Happy Anniversary, ‘Dr. Quinn, Medicine Woman’! Jane Seymour on a Potential Reboot, That Costume Obsession, Fake Blood and More

How has it been 32 years since Dr. Quinn, Medicine Woman and Jane Seymour first made their debut on CBS on Jan. 1, 1993? The Western drama ran for six seasons and had two follow-up movies before calling it quits (at least for now) in 2001. While Seymour has reinvented herself brilliantly and nonstop ever since — each role almost better than the last, including her current Harry Wild role on Acorn TV — she has bold ideas to bring her favorite frontier woman back for another go-round.

Today, we celebrate Seymour and the series’ premiere anniversary with a round-up of fun insights we’ve gotten from talking to the star over the years. Let’s call it our “Seymour Says” piece.

On Doctor Quinn, Medicine Woman still resonating with audiences today

Jane Seymour: Firstly, because it’s set back in the 1870s, so it’s “back in the day.” But I think it’s because it deals with the human condition, and all of the issues that we dealt with are still current issues. So I think it is a timeless series. I’m very proud of it.

When I did it, I don’t think I realized quite how well done it was. Because who had time to watch it? I was making it! Now that I’ve had a chance, every once in a while I find myself alone in a hotel room, and there I am! When I get over the shock of not looking quite so young anymore, I get into the show, and I realize it was a very good show, one I’m very proud of.

Jeff Katz / TV Guide / courtesy Everett Collection

On bringing Dr. Quinn back to TV

Everyone’s trying to get Dr. Quinn back, and it’s so obvious that if you were ever going to bring back anything right now that’s pertinent to today and desperately needed, that would be Dr. Quinn, and it would be Dr. Quinn 30 years later. We’ve developed it, we’ve worked on it. We’re still trying to find somebody who actually wants to do it. All the actors are very happy to come in, whether they have large parts or walk-ons, they don’t care. Everyone loves it.

On her Dr. Quinn love interest Byron Sully (Joe Lando)

Joe and I are very, very close friends. [The two reunited in the Lifetime original movie A Christmas Spark in 2022].

Tony Esparza /CBS/courtesy Everett Collection

On rewatching episodes today

I never really got a chance to watch it and appreciate it, because I was doing it all the time. I worked 15, 18 hours a day. So I started watching it [a few years ago] with my grandchildren. They go crazy for it. If there’s a wound or there’s blood, they get very worried, or a gun, but otherwise they’re very happy. Only X amount of blood was ever visually allowed to be in [the show]. I remember every time I did surgery, I’d have a little bowl with fake blood in it, and while I was talking about something my hands would come up into frame and then down immediately and they’d have blood on my fingers, just enough to know that I was doing surgery but certainly not enough to have anyone get squeamish.

On where she keeps her awards (which include a few Golden Globes & an Emmy)

I think they’re in my bedroom … I’m very proud of them, actually. One of the Golden Globes was for East of Eden, and I got really great reviews for East of Eden. But I did not get a nomination for an Emmy, so I think the Golden Globe people felt that they had to make that right. And then, Doctor Quinn, Medicine Woman. To get a Golden Globe for an 8 o’clock show is unheard of, as you know. And then the Emmy was for playing Maria Callas in Onassis: The Richest Man in the World. I was thrown into that, and I really worked hard on that and learned all the arias. I don’t think I’ve ever worked as hard on a character as Maria Callas, so that was particularly exciting to me.

Universal Pictures/Everett Collection

On her costume obsession

I do … uniquely, I think. I’m the only actress that I can think of who had in her contract that she could keep the costume. So I have costumes from almost everything I’ve ever done. I have all the best Doctor Quinn costumes right here in my closet, including some of Sully’s pieces. And I have costumes going back to The Sun Also Rises [1984], which I did way back. Karl Lagerfeld personally designed and created four dresses for that through the House of Chanel, and all kinds of amazing costumes. I basically have a costume house in my home. … I even have the waistcoat that Christopher Reeve gave me that had the penny in it in Somewhere in Time.