The Many Characters You Likely Forgot The Boys' Karl Urban Played On Xena: Warrior Princess
If it were possible to mathematically distill the perfect formula for creating quality genre cinema, casting Karl Urban would be at least a third of the overall equation. He was featured in "The Lord of the Rings" as a noble horse lad, in "Star Trek" as the Hippocratic oath's worst nightmare, and in "Robocop" as a thing we can only hope never exists in reality.
Recently, Urban gained a new following by starring in "The Boys," Eric Kripke's superhero series that serves as a dark satire of capitalism, fascism, and those who benefit from such systems. In it, Urban portrays Billy Butcher, a former Special Air Services operative with a rather violent hatred for superheroes.
And for those who mostly know him as the leader of the titular Boys, imagining a younger, sillier Karl Urban might be almost impossible. For instance, how many modern viewers know that the actor appeared on the classic 1990s series "Xena: Warrior Princess"? Anyone? No one? Let's fix that because Urban showed up more than once in the Lucy Lawless lead adventure, as well as in other correlated media.
Karl Urban appeared as four separate characters on Xena
For "Xena: Warrior Princess," Karl Urban portrayed four roles, two of which also appeared on "Hercules: The Legendary Journeys," the series where the character of Xena (Lucy Lawless) originated. Let's go through them in order of screen time, as opposed to chronology, because the latter option involves interlacing the concurrent timelines for both shows, and as the popular culture blog It's A Stampede noted ... that's exhausting.
Tied for third place are Urban's roles Mael and Kor, both of whom were only seen for a singular episode, according to the "Xena: Warrior Princess" IMDb page. Mael will feel familiar to viewers with a background in biblical lore as that particular character and his respective story are directly inspired by the tale of Abraham and his horrific near sacrifice (read: religious murder) of Isaac, his own son. Only mildly less distressing is Kor, Urban's brief stint as an actual factual cannibal.
In second place, with two listed episodes for "Xena" and one for "Hercules," is Urban's portrayal of Cupid, the Roman name for the Greek god of love, Eros. Was it an extended excuse to see what Urban looked like shirtless? Possibly, but they also dyed his hair bleach blonde and slapped a pair of wings on him, just to make it more convincing. He also turned into a hideous green monster but that was just a phase, really.
And, coming in first place with ten listed episodes for "Xena" (and one for "Hercules") is Urban's recurring role as Julius Caesar, the eventual dictator of Rome. In both productions, Urban's Caesar is an antagonist who causes more than his fair share of problems, which, aside from the addition of magic, is pretty historically accurate, right down to the silly little haircut.