This article first appeared in Radio Times magazine.
Back in 2013, Caitríona Balfe was living in Los Angeles, winning just enough small acting roles to believe that it wasn’t yet time to return home to Dublin (or to resume her career as a model for Chanel and Louis Vuitton). But it was “all very precarious” and her income so capricious that her sister had to lend her £5,000. Then, out of the blue, came the call that would change the 34-year-old’s life: the offer to play former Second World War military nurse Claire Fraser in Outlander.
In the series, after Claire time travels from 1945 back to 1743, she meets Highland warrior Jamie, falls deeply in love and, over the course of eight seasons, battles to stay with him. Therefore, casting the role of Jamie was just as important as getting the right Claire.
At the same time Balfe was accepting loans, Sam Heughan was making a name for himself in theatre alongside small roles in Homeland and a long stint in Doctors. In his mid-20s, he’d auditioned for Bond, losing out to Daniel Craig – apparently he was told he wasn’t charismatic enough. By 2013, Heughan was 33 and working in a bar in London. After an unsuccessful stint in LA, he was also thinking it was time to give up the acting dream.
Then came the call to audition for Jamie Fraser in Outlander – a chance to work back in his native Scotland and also an opportunity to prove that he is in fact magnetic on screen.
When author Diana Gabaldon started writing the Outlander novels in the late 80s, she could never have imagined the series – there are nine novels, with a 10th and likely final book in the works – would sell more than 50 million copies. Or that the small-screen adaptation would break records – it was one of the most viewed programmes in the world last year.
The TV series inspires such fervent fandom that when Radio Times ran an online poll for our “TV Champion” contest in 2015, Heughan was the clear winner after securing 16.5 million votes (when he was presented with the trophy, he joked that his mum was responsible for at least half of them).
In reality, the viewers are undeniably passionate. Both Heughan and Balfe have stories about fans approaching them when they are “at their least prepared”. Heughan has a lengthy list, from South America to Kathmandu. “It is mad! These fans have stuck with us for over a decade so it’s inevitable that they are invested. Frankly it’s amazing to have them on board.”
Balfe’s most bizarre experience took place in Iceland. “I was naked in the changing rooms at the Blue Lagoon, and these two women approached me, apparently oblivious to the fact that I wasn’t wearing any clothes. They just stood there and had a full conversation with me about Outlander.” Sam pulls a “glad it wasn’t me” face and adds, “I have to admit that it’s slightly odd when people take photos of me when I’m asleep on a plane or whatever.”
As we approach the last episodes of the final season, there’s an insistent hum from the die-hard fans online: how will Claire and Jamie’s story end? Although Claire can (sometimes) time travel, she can’t change the future, which foretells Jamie’s death. As an indication of the pressure to produce an ending to satisfy the show’s fans, showrunner Matthew B Roberts ensured that four endings were written and filmed. Balfe and Heughan insist they have no idea which one will be used.
“It’s so hard to please everyone,” says Balfe. “But we’ve tried to stay true to the characters and hopefully fans will respond positively to that.”
I ask if they were given – or accidentally took – any mementos from the set, fully expecting them both to lie or maybe mention one special item. Balfe jumps in first. “I asked for one of my wedding rings – I got married so many times, I had to keep a record of them!”
Heughan looks slightly embarrassed. “Well, I asked for and was given a full Jamie Fraser outfit, which my costume person put on a mannequin. I was like, ‘Is this a bit of a weird thing to have in my house?’” Balfe laughs. But there’s more. “I also stole a couple of other costume things,” continues Heughan.
“I was asked if I had them and I said no. Then I came home after a period away and my whole house was infested with moths! I think you could call it karma.” Balfe is laughing harder now. “Sam, that’s insane!”
When I interviewed Heughan and Balfe for RT in 2022, he told me that he’d invited Vanessa Coffey, his old drama teacher from the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland, to act as intimacy coordinator from the sixth season onwards. Since Outlander doesn’t shy away from sex scenes, both stars have since benefitted from Coffey’s guidance on set.
“It’s so much safer for the cast and the crew,” says Heughan. “Vanessa found ways for Caitríona and I to show intimacy that wasn’t just gratuitous, but that illustrated the deepening of our characters’ intimacy with each other.”
Balfe agrees. “Those [early sex scenes] asked an awful lot of Sam and I. It wasn’t always easy for us, even though we had such trust in each other. It’s tough when you’re asked to do something you might not feel comfortable with and the producers don’t always use the right language to explain what they want. Miscommunication is less likely to happen if there’s a person – in this instance Vanessa – who comes in as a kind of neutral sounding board.”
That’s one learning point – but if Heughan and Balfe could time travel back to 2013, is there anything else they’d tell their younger selves? They shake their heads in unison. “We were naive,” says Heughan. “And a bit discombobulated,” adds Balfe. “We certainly weren’t aware of what was ahead of us, or we might have been more nervous,” says Heughan. “But I can’t think of any advice that would change the experience for the better.”
What, then, will they both be doing now that they are free of the commitment to Outlander, which could take up to 12 months to shoot? “Sleep!” says Heughan. “Enjoy the fact that a film can be shot in as little as four weeks!” says Balfe, who managed to fit in the Kenneth Branagh film Belfast while shooting Outlander, earning herself best supporting actress nominations for a BAFTA and a Golden Globe.
“Caitríona has a few films in the pipeline,” says Heughan, grinning at his co-star. Balfe laughs. “Well,” she says, “I’m hardly swatting offers away…”
That’s debatable: her forthcoming projects include A Long Winter, Andrew Haigh’s adaptation of the Colm Tóibín novella (“Andrew is an incredible filmmaker; maybe I mentally stalked him to try and manifest a role in one of his films”) and Sense and Sensibility, in which she will play Mrs Dashwood (“I didn’t want to do another period drama for a while, but Georgia Oakley, the director, has a unique perspective – plus Daisy Edgar-Jones is playing one of my daughters!”).
Heughan, meanwhile, is filming Embassy, a six-part political thriller with JK Simmons and Anna Kendrick. But don’t expect the 46-year-old to take another shot at playing 007 in Denis Villeneuve’s new Bond movies. “I think that moment has passed. I’m too old! Maybe I can play Bond’s dad.” Balfe nudges him. “What about a Bond villain? You could go toe-to-toe with 007. You’re good at fighty-fighty.” Heughan grins. “I’d love that. I’m always available, Denis.”
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Outlander airs on MGM+ in the UK and on Starz in the US. You can buy Diana Gabaldon’s books on Amazon.
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