Outlander: Blood Of My Blood's Harriet Slater And Jamie Roy: Ellen And Brian Must Conquer Distance, Duty, And Danger In 'Heavy' Season 2

Welcome to TVLine's in-depth preview of "Outlander: Blood of My Blood" Season 2. This post covers what's ahead for Brian and Ellen in the new season. Make sure to check out our other previews about Henry and Julia and Dougal and Maura, too!

When "Outlander: Blood of My Blood" returns with new episodes later this month, the honeymoon isn't over for lovebirds Brian Fraser and Ellen MacKenzie... but aye, it's certainly put on pause.

Because the fiery cross that began blazing in the Season 1 finale, calling Scotland's clans to fight in a Jacobite uprising, is a signal that not even the starry-eyed lovers can ignore.

"In true 'Outlander' style, they're literally together for, like, two minutes, which is what they worked the whole of Season 1 for: to be together, and to be free, and to be happy," Harriet Slater, who plays Ellen, tells TVLine. She laughs ruefully. "They finally manage it, and then within a few minutes, they're thrust apart again."

Starz's "Outlander" told the story of Claire, a World War II-era nurse who accidentally time-traveled to the 1700s during a vacation in Scotland and wound up becoming the soulmate of a Highlander named Jamie Fraser. "Blood of My Blood" is a prequel that follows Claire's parents, Henry and Julia Beauchamp, and Jamie's folks, Brian and Ellen, during key epochs in their love stories.

As Harriet Slater mentions, the show's freshman season took Ellen and Brian from enchantment-at-first-sight meeting to an informal elopement that angered Ellen's brothers so much, they tried to have Brian killed. And while they didn't succeed, the love affair was the cause of a death. (More on that later.)

But first, let's return to the rustic hut where we find the lovers at the start of the new season. Brian "knows he has a duty to do, a place to be, which is on the front lines of a war," Jamie Roy, who plays young Fraser, explains. "But also, for the first time in his life, his heart has been opened up, and he's finally been able to be with the one person who's been able to see him, understand him."

That sense of belonging is so strong and the headiness of new love so overwhelming, he adds, that Brian is tempted mightily to act in his own self-interest, clans be damned. "There's probably a time in Brian's head where it's like, 'Do you know what? Maybe we could just run away,'" Roy muses. Cooler (red)heads, namely Ellen's, prevail, a situation Roy acknowledges is for the best. "Probably would not go well, no," he says, chuckling. "Even when it's hard to track people, people can still be tracked. Scotland is a small country, yeah?"

Ellen is very aware that her siblings, Colum and Dougal, aren't likely to relent until she's returned to the MacKenzies' estate. So, Harriet Slater previews, she sacrifices herself — and her happiness — to protect her new husband and his best friend, Murtagh (Rory Alexander). The men "have to go back to stand with Clan Fraser, because that's the oath they made," she says sadly. "It's a really unfortunate situation for all of them."

So while Ellen may make the brave choice in coming back to her family's home, Slater adds, she's inwardly quite unsure about how things are going to go once she gets there. "I mean, she's returning to the place where she and Brian did something awful because they had to," she says. "They left that place with Malcolm's blood on their hands. And now she has to return and face the consequences of that." Sure, Ellen's now-deceased former fiancé was threatening to kill the pair as they prepared to run away. "But even still, that's a huge weight to carry, and she returns — literally — to the place of the crime and has to keep that a secret, in order to protect herself and Brian," she adds. "That's probably really scary for her, but she can't show it."

The actress recalls watching the premiere and flinching at a violent moment that involves her character. "That was quite shocking to watch — even though I was there, doing it at the time!" she says, laughing. And don't worry: Ellen "obviously has this plan of how to protect herself," Slater reassures us. "It's quite a cunning plot."

Brian and Ellen's time apart will be fraught with danger and intrigue on both sides, executive producer Maril Davis tells us, as the stakes reach even higher levels than in Season 1. "Every season seems so traumatic for our characters," she says. "This season, I think, is more so. Everyone is pushed to their limits in a way that's really testing all of their relationships."

And when she says "all," she means all: The Season 2 trailer shows Brian fighting alongside —read: not against — Ellen's bellicose brother, Dougal (Sam Retford), a situation that Jamie Roy says he and Retford found refreshing. "Sam and I get on really well off-set, and we always goof around. And then, when action's called, it really is this intense, quite grating relationship that we have," he says. While he can't disclose the exact details of an upcoming scene featuring the pair, he can say that this season's version of Brian is less likely to back down. "I was like, 'Yeah, Brian, that's it man! Show him! Stand your ground!'" Roy says, laughing. "I don't think Season 1 Brian would have done that."

He adds: "Now he actually has something to fight for."

Speaking of standing one's ground, the trailer also features a shot of Ellen brandishing a bow, an arrow, and a determined look on her face. We won't spoil you with how that situation comes to pass, but we can say that you won't have to wait too long in the season to see it for yourself. And when you do, please take a moment for the extra prep Harriet Slater had to put into that episode.

"I was aching so much, and I fully didn't appreciate how much strength is required in order to fire a bow and arrow. It's hard!" she tells us. "The stunts and weapons department gave me some training, which was so much fun, because I'd never done it before. It was something I'd always wanted to do, because I loved 'The Hunger Games' growing up."

In addition, it allowed the show to thread one more throughline into the "Outlander"-verse. "Ellen having Young Ian as her grandson, obviously, he's so amazing with the bow and arrow," Slater notes — and he had to get the talent somewhere! (A little behind-the-scenes trivia: Though it's not the one that you'll see on camera, Slater trained on one of John Bell's old bows from the original series. "I wasn't a natural," she says with a laugh. "It's a lot harder than people think!")

Both Jamie Roy and Slater preview that the second half of the season will challenge Mr. and Mrs. Fraser in agonizing ways. Episodes 6 and 7, in particular, "were probably the hardest, physically and emotionally," she says. "They're really heavy." Roy echoes his co-star, saying that the hours are "very emotional, for many, many reasons... and yeah, I think that's all I can say about that."

"Outlander: Blood of My Blood" returns for Season 2 on Friday, September 18, at 8/7c. You also can watch via the Starz app, starting at 12 a.m. ET on Fridays. Until then, read more about the show's return in our Fall Preview 2026, make sure to catch all of our pre-season coverage, and then hit the comments with your predictions for the season ahead!