The wars did not abate after the 2001 series finale. With no new material from the show itself, the debates were fueled by various statements from the cast and crew. In January 2003, "Xena" star Lucy Lawless told "Lesbian News" magazine that after watching the finale, she had come to believe that Xena and Gabrielle's relationship was "definitely gay". However, in the interviews and commentaries on the DVD sets released in 2003–2005, the actors, writers, and producers continued to stress the ambiguity of the relationship, and in several interviews both Lawless and Renee O'Connor, who played Gabrielle, spoke of Ares as a principal love interest for Xena, with O'Connor commenting, "If there was ever going to be one man in Xena's life, it would be Ares."