From the Scottish hills to the real world! Throughout their seven seasons on Starz, the stars of Outlander have demonstrated intriguing time-travel twists, sizzling chemistry and more intricate details on screen.
The hit drama series, initially based on Diana Gabaldon’s 13-book franchise, follows a married combat nurse from 1945, Claire Randall (Caitriona Balfe), who somehow gets swept back in time to 1793. In her new world, she meets Jamie Fraser (Sam Heughan), a chivalrous Scottish warrior, and soon gets involved in an intensely passionate romance.
The bestselling author previously noted via her official website that she was “delighted” with the casting of the leading players, even helping out the Starz creative team in bringing her literary creation to life.
“While Diana works hard on writing book eight of the Outlander series, Written in My Own Heart’s Blood, she took a little time out to give feedback on the casting process and choices to Miranda Siwak Ron Moore and the casting crew,” a statement on the website read. “The fact that the production staff asks for Diana’s input, and does their best to implement her thoughts and ideas, should reassure readers that this production will be as true to her books as possible!”
Gabaldon isn’t the only one who’s been pleased with the televised adaptation — the actors are equally as excited.
“I think what’s nice to see is that these are two people who genuinely have a great love for each other,” Balfe told Us Weekly in March 2018 about working alongside the Bloodshot actor. “They have a great chemistry, but they also just like each other as who they are and they find each other interesting. They actually settle down. It’s a different dynamic, and it’s nice to explore that. You know, there’s a couple of cute scenes where it’s just daily domesticity. So I like it.”
At the time, the Ireland native couldn’t stop gushing about her costar and their onscreen love story.
“So it’s about, how do we keep the writing fresh, how do we keep the story fresh, how do we let these characters evolve and explore other facets of their life?” the Ford v Ferrari actress recalled. “And it’s like, well, obviously their love is not going to be the same at 30 as it will be at 50. So what does that look like? That’s what excited me as an actor, is being able to just explore new things. We get it. They’re in love. It’s the biggest love they’ve ever experienced. We can’t just keep going over that and over that. So what’s new about that? What did they discover new about each other? And that’s what’s beautiful about this couple is that they do. They grow and they evolve together. It’s really lovely to watch.”
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Scroll down to see what the cast looks like outside of Fraser’s Ridge: