By TERRY MORROW
August 31, 2005
Lucy Lawless could not keep her feet on the ground any longer.
"I resisted going into space for a long time," says the actress who turns up as an investigative journalist on "Battlestar Galactica" (10 p.m. Friday, Sept. 9, Sci-Fi Channel).
She plays D'Anna Friel, a reporter who's muckraking exposes some delicate secrets among the power elite of Galactica. Her reports come while tensions are high after a crackdown on civilian protesters.
Lawless uses her native New Zealand accent for this role.
After "Xena: Warrior Princess" ended in the year 2000, Lawless hung up her sword and had a baby.
She turned her attention toward home and hearth. She says she was offered roles in hour-long dramas but turned them down.
"It would have been long hours. I would have been miserable. The show would have been miserable. It would not be a good situation for anyone," she says.
Now, with her youngest 3 years old, Lawless says she is ready to go back to her acting career. Next up is "Vampire Bats," a campy adventure movie set for CBS. (Despite the interruption of the filming of some of its final scenes
in hurricane-ravaged New Orleans, CBS has said it continues to expect the movie to be finished in time for its scheduled Oct. 30 airing.)
"I've turned down good roles in rotten company. I've turned down bad roles with good producers," she says. "I think now I'd like to go back to work.
"I'd like to think I've been gone long enough that people have started to miss me ... I'm off to the next big adventure. It's an end of an era for me."
Other highlights for the week of to Sept. 5-11 (all times Eastern; listings are subject to change; check local listings)