For six years, Lucy Lawless ran around half-naked in the New Zealand countryside as she battled mythical warriors.

In two episodes of The X-Files, the actress who formerly starred in Xena: Warrior Princess runs around completely naked in southern California.

"It was great fun," she said recently from her home in New Zealand.

"I really thought only my crew on Xena was incredibly fun, but now I see film crews around the world are all of the same ilk."

In a story airing Nov. 11 and 18, Lawless appears as Shannon McMahon -- someone who served in the military with Agent Doggett (Robert Patrick).

"Shannon keeps showing up with no clothes on, making trouble, and she's got vital information to impart about Scully's baby -- which might shed light on Scully's baby," Lawless said. "She's insinuating it might not be an ordinary child.

"Shannon is such an ambiguous presence. You don't know if she's good or bad. She could well be their worst nightmare."

Speculation about Scully (Gillian Anderson) and her baby has revolved around whether the infant has an alien heritage.

Lawless, though, is unable -- or unwilling -- to say anything more about the season's first two episodes.

For one thing, she hasn't seen the completed shows.

For another, series creator Chris Carter and the rest of the cast and crew are "ultra-discreet," she said with a low chuckle.

"It's all right by me. It was actually a pleasure to work on. I just like to play the game by their rules; it's their darned game."

Lawless did provide a piece of information that might disappoint her fans: The naked body that viewers will see is that of a stand-in.

They are used to being disappointed, though.

Lawless continues to hear about Xena fans who were dismayed by the series finale, in which the title character was killed by decapitation.

Killing off Xena was "bold," she said, "but, I must say, hanging the body in the tree was a little over-the-top."

Why fans were genuinely upset "took me a long time to figure out."

"I was given a clue by Sharon Delaney, who runs the conventions and things. It was about how many people out there have never been in love. This show, for them, represented for them that there really is a soul mate, and at the end we shattered that myth.

"I would inwardly roll my eyes . . . but this 'soul mates' thing kept wheeling out and acting as God's truth. And we blew it away with a shotgun at the end.

"We didn't realize what an impact it would have. We thought we were just putting together a television show that was a logistical nightmare to produce. There are real people who crave love and crave a life partner. To those people: I'm so sorry that they were hurt."

The X-Files seemed to present an ideal transition for Lawless, who said the role came about through an accidental meeting with Carter at an Emmy ceremony, where he opened her car door.

"We were absolute little nobodies," she said. "He came down from his lofty height and opened the door for us. I will always have a soft spot for him because of that. Knowing Xena had wound up, he tracked me down in Hawaii."

The X-Files role, therefore, represents something that Lawless is "kind of doing for love."

She threw herself into the character.

"I'm really good at surrender," she said. "My strongest attribute is just giving over, to improv or whatever. Even the first few times going on Leno, I realized that crawling up into a fetal position wasn't going to do me any good. You have to just allow yourself to be fabulous."

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