Outlander Spinoff Cast On Why Blood Of My Blood Makes Claire's Journey In The Original Series Even More 'Tragic'
We're so glad that Starz decided to reveal the giant twist at the heart of Outlander's upcoming spinoff, Blood of My Blood, before the series' premiere... because it means we can finally talk about a very intriguing point the show's cast made during a recent stop by TVLine's offices.
The prequel series follows the parallel love stories of Jamie's parents, Scots Ellen MacKenzie (played by Pennyworth's Harriet Slater) and Brian Fraser (Condor's Nest's Jamie Roy), and Claire's folks, Brits Julia Moriston (We Hunt Together's Hermione Corfield) and Henry Beauchamp (Treadstone's Jeremy Irvine). A trailer released in July divulged that, although Julia and Henry's start off the series circa World War I, they somehow both end up in 18th-century Scotland, aka in the era of Ellen and Brian. [Shakes fist] Time travel!
Naturally, the change-up in the plot was one of the first items for discussion when I sat down with Roy, Corfield, Irvine and Slater. In the video above, Corfield points out that Claire always thought her parents died in an accident when she was a young girl. As the story plays out, though, maybe Ma and Pa Beauchamp were not as far away as she thought?
"The reveal being in the time period that she — I mean, it's earlier, obviously — the fact that they were there, I think, makes the whole thing more tragic," Corfield says. "Because she always thought she was an orphan, when in actual fact, her parents were alive and probably closer than she thought." (If you're fuzzy on the numbers: Claire goes through the stones in 1943 and winds up in 1743. Blood of My Blood's Brian and Ellen meet in the early 18th century.)
But make no mistake: Amid the series' high-stakes drama there's plenty of sexy fun and clan intrigue, just like in the original Outlander. Ellen and Brian's love story, for example, comes with its fair share of plaid baggage. She is the grieving daughter of a family at a crossroads, her gender a barrier to accomplishing her goals. He is the bastard son of a calculating local landholder, his social status an impediment to following his dreams.
Ellen "plays the game very well," Slater says. "There are certain things she can't do and that she can't say because she is a woman, and she finds other ways to engineer situations to her advantage — but also to the advantage of the clan, because ultimately, that's what she wants: She wants to protect the clan. She's very clever about it, because at that time, women couldn't speak their minds."
When Ellen and Roy's Brian enter each other's orbits, however, we'll see a different side of her. "It's really lovely that when she meets Brian, she is able to be her true self," Slater continues. "I really liked our scenes for that reason: There was an ease about them and a youthful freedom. They felt different from Ellen's other scenes, where she was more constrained."
As Roy nods along to what his co-star is saying, we can't help but notice: The guy does, indeed, look a lot like Outlander star Sam Heughan. (And yeah, he's heard it before.) "I was told this through the casting process and things," he says, recalling that he didn't agree... until he and Heughan met for the first time. "I was like, 'Damn... I can see what everybody's talking about!'" he says, laughing.
Outlander: Blood of My Blood premieres Friday, Aug. 8, at 9/8c. Press PLAY on the video above for a preview from the cast (including what advice Outlander's Heughan and Caitríona Balfe gave them), then hit the comments with your thoughts!