When Outlander: Blood of My Blood premiered, we were hooked! And after a week of the season finale? Still obsessed! We sat down to talk with stars Harriet Slater and Jamie Roy about joining such a beloved universe, creating their characters, and how their love compares to the epic love story that started it all AKA Jamie and Claire’s.
The Wonderful Outlander World
When asked how it feels to be part of such a huge world like Outlander universe, Slater couldn’t hide her excitement. “It’s amazing. It’s so exciting. I actually really like that the episodes are coming out one at a time, each week. I think it means that you get a very specific reaction to each one. As opposed to if they were released all together. I think it would be kind of more diluted in a way. Whereas this way, everybody’s reacting episode by episode and then having to wait a whole week for the next one — and we are too,” she said.
And we agreed! The weekly format keeps both the cast and the audience in sync, sharing the anticipation. Slater added that meeting fans in person has made the experience even more special. “It’s been amazing to meet people as well in real life because before it was just sort of online Instagram handles. We got to go to San Diego and we got to go to LA and meet people at the premiere and it was so amazing to see how invested people are in the show and how excited they are for it. I think we both feel very lucky.”
MORE: Outlander: Blood of My Blood Season 1, Episode 10 Review: ‘Something Borrowed’
Exploring New Sides of the Characters
One of the biggest challenges of Outlander: Blood of My Blood is that its characters already exist in our minds. But as Roy explained, that blank space was a gift. “I think the stuff that we know about our characters so far are quite limited. Obviously for Brian, anyway, we’ve seen on season 7 a little bit, and then season 1 in the flashbacks, but it’s not so much that we can really build a sense of his character. So it’s quite nice to have that clear canvas of finding our characters through the scripts and things. The scripts are so well written that you can really find them through that,” he said.
“You find your character’s journey so you have a baseline. And then as the season goes on, you see how everything evolves, and just to kind of paint your own picture was really, really nice. Instead of knowing exactly what you’re aiming for, if that makes sense — just kind of painting it as you go was really freeing,” Roy pointed out.
Slater echoed that sentiment, saying Ellen MacKenzie was both familiar and brand new. “I think it’s the same with Ellen. I think we know little snippets of information about her but we’ve only ever heard about her. We’ve never seen her. So actually, there, it felt like there was a huge amount of freedom to create this character,” she said.
Slater also admitted she drew inspiration from other characters in the Outlander universe, including Sam Heughan’s portrayal of Jamie Fraser. “I I definitely drew inspiration from other characters like Sam — Jamie, sorry, Jamie — and they all won,” she confessed.
MORE: INTERVIEW: Matthew B. Roberts On the Consequences of Ellen’s Test in Blood of My Blood
Creating The Magic
The comparisons between Brian and Ellen’s romance and Jamie and Claire’s were bound to happen, it was inevitable. When asked about that, Roy commented that “there’s always going to be the comparisons between our show and Outlander and Jamie and Claire, Brian and Ellen, Henry and Julia. All those comparisons are going to be made. But when you really look at it objectively I think each story is very different.”
He broke down the distinctions clearly. For him, “Brian and Ellen’s story is two youngsters falling in love, meeting each other in the same time period. Henry and Julia are much more established — they’re already married, they have their own love story. And then, for Claire and Jamie, there’s a completely different two,” Roy shared.
“So as much as the comparisons are made, with certain aspects and moments and things like that, I think when people look at them as a whole. Especially as the season ends after 10 episodes come out and people have the time to digest them and really look at them. They’ll see that these love stories, although as similar as they may seem through characters and things, the stories themselves are very separate — which I think people in time will come to appreciate,” he pointed out.
And we appreciate it, we appreciate it so so much!
Outlander: Blood of My Blood Season 1 aired on Fridays on STARZ.
