Steven Cree won our hearts since Outlander season 1. That’s a fact. For a while, we’ve been seeing him in A Discovery of Witches, playing our second favorite vampire – only behind Matthew – Gallowglass. Ahead of the third and final season of A Discovery of Witches, we sat down with Steven Cree to talk about Gallowglass’s emotional journey in these final episodes of the show, his complicated relationship with Matthew and Diana, and of course, his future…including a possible visit to Fraser’s Ridge in Outlander. Ready?
Here we go!
Gallowglass is a different character in season 2 and season 3 of A Discovery of Witches. We met him as a mischievous, joking, happy and rambunctious vampire and in season 3 we found the darkness in his eyes and his spirit that wasn’t there before. So our first question to Steven Cree was his opinion on the differences in Gallowglass season 2 versus season 3.
“When Gallowglass enters in season two, it kind of comes across this fun-loving, carefree, energetic, easy-going best friend, big, sort of cuddly warrior type. And in season 3, 400 years have passed. He’s learned how to ride a bike. He’s cut his hair, his beard still there. And he’s changed a lot. He’s gone through a lot of emotion. He’s got matters of the heart playing on his mind. I think Gallowglass is a loner anyway, but he’s kind of almost having to keep himself to himself even more and harbor a real inner conflict that I felt is really eating him up inside almost from the start.”
And we couldn’t agree more with Steven. That darkness that we perceive in Gallowglass is due to that internal conflict that is…turning him off a little bit every day. That’s what unrequited love does for you. It’s…heartbreaking from the inside out. And it’s tremendously difficult to live as Gallowglass lives in season 3, feeling like he’s missing an essential part of himself that will never be there.
This internal conflict is reflected in Gallowglass’s complicated relationship with Matthew and Diana. So we delved into this a bit more with Steven Cree to find out how he would define Gallowglass’s relationship with Matthew and Diana individually.
“First and foremost, he really loves Matthew and he’ll do anything for him to the point of laying his life on the line for him. He will back him to the hilt. And despite the fact, I think sometimes he recognizes Matthew’s stubbornness or pigheadedness or he probably thinks Matthew is a little uptight as well. He knows what a good guy is Matthew. Ultimately he’s his uncle, isn’t he? And really, he’ll do anything for him.”
“And with Diana…I think he just has such massive respect and admiration, even in that first scene, I think in season two we see that he’s complete, even though he’s a little quizzical, he’s very charmed by her and just such feelings of warmth towards her. And he’s probably a little bit confused as well.”
The way Steven Cree talks about the bond between Matthew and Gallowglass moves us to tears. Because that’s just the point of their bond. They’re family but it’s more than that, they respect and admire each other. That’s why it’s so hard for Gallowglass to feel what he feels for Diana. As Steven points out, that spark was there from the beginning.
We love Gallowglass. He’s wonderful and deserves more than anyone to be happy. That’s why his suffering is so heartbreaking for us because he doesn’t deserve it and we just want to hug him very tight to let him know that everything will be fine in the end. But… will it be? Do you think Gallowglass will get his happy ending? Do you think he will find another woman to love, his true mate, and she will love him back this time? Steven Cree thinks so…and we’re keeping our fingers crossed that he’s right.
“I hope so. Yeah, I hope so. I think he’s probably been searching for something for hundreds of years. And from the period when he first meets Matthew and Diana and he has to wait 400 years for Diana to be born, there’s an aspect of his life that is essentially on hold for 400 years. And as they say, the truth will set you free. Hopefully, having unburdened himself, he’s able to move on and go to the Caribbean or wherever he wants to go to chill out for a while and enjoy himself.”
Well said, Steven! We can only add that accompanying Gallowglass on a trip to the Caribbean sounds like a plan (wink, wink.)
But if we talk about a happy ending for Gallowglass, it’s inevitable to think what the perfect woman would be like for him, the woman who would make him forget Diana. His perfect partner.
“Probably someone with similar characteristics to Diana and someone with a sense of adventure, with a sense of fun, with a good sense of humor, intelligence. But maybe you don’t want to think of somebody who’s a mirror image of Gallowglass. If not in someone who can compliment him. You know, I think he needs someone as well. He probably needs a lot of love.”
Gallowglass certainly needs a lot of love. There is someone out there for him and we only hope that he finds her on his trip to the Caribbean. Don’t you agree?
In addition, playing a character like this is not easy and we wanted to know how Steven Cree prepared himself to give life this new Gallowglass.
“I read the book for a start. I read the book because, for me, no matter how good the scripts are, when you’re doing an adaptation from the book to the TV, the book is almost kind of like my Bible and it fills in a lot of blanks that the script doesn’t always have the time to explore. So it helps me build my mental picture of Gallowglass. And from a physical point of view, I spent a lot of time working out and in the gym, and I was very dedicated to trying to get that aspect of the Gallowglass across because it’s quite important in season three and it’s referred to so often in the book, and then you just have to try and imagine what it might feel like being an 800-year-old vampire who for 400 years has been holding this thing deep inside him, that’s causing him a lot of anguish and then you hope that you’re able to get that across on screen.”
The effort that Steven Cree put into playing Gallowglass and the love with which he did it pours out of every word and just…he is Gallowglass. And we honestly couldn’t have had a better Gallowglass than him and we can’t imagine another actor in that role.
In our last question, we took the opportunity to ask him if there was any chance that Ian Senior would visit the Fraser family in Outlander season 6.
“I don’t know…maybe Jenny….I strongly suspect not Ian. I don’t know if he will cross the water to America, but if they ever come back over to Scotland and they want me to make a cameo appearance, I’m certainly very open to that suggestion. I’d love to see Ian go across the Atlantic, but I think it’s more likely maybe if they come back to Scotland. But, yeah, absolutely. And I’m very aware of the arc of the Outlander books, so it would be nice to tie that up if the opportunity arises.”
We are just crossing our fingers for that to happen.
A Discovery of Witches season 3 airs Saturdays.
