New prequel series delves deeper into the saga of Outlander
As Outlander starts approaching its end, the epic love story of Jamie Fraser and Claire Beauchamp about to head off into the sunset in early 2026, fans need not worry about their Scottish period romance fix. In Blood of My Blood, the creators of Outlander explore the origin story of Jamie’s parents, Brian Fraser (Jamie Roy) and Ellen MacKenzie (Harriet Slater), the Romeo and Juliet of the Scottish Highlands. But to make the series truly fitting of its time-travel genre, Outlander showrunner Matthew B. Roberts had a stroke of genius: What if Claire’s parents didn’t die in a car accident but accidentally traveled back in time to the 1700s? And what if, without them being in Scotland, there would be no Brian and Ellen?
The result is two love stories with high stakes and built-in fan investment, complete with book author Diana Gabaldon’s seal of approval. “The Brian and Ellen story was thread through the books,” explains Roberts. “We’ve heard stories about how they met and eloped, but the Julia (Hermione Corfield) and Henry (Jeremy Irvine) story wasn’t there. There’s so much room to explore that love story and how the stories connect.”
Even for those who read Gabaldon’s books and devoured details about Jamie Fraser’s parents, watching their love story unfold on screen is sure to please. “For Brian and Ellen, it’s very much love at first sight,” says Slater. “It is described in the script as a ‘thunderclap moment,’ when lightning strikes and these two souls who are destined to be together finally meet. They fall in love with each other before they even know who the other is. It is not until the second meeting that they find out that they’re from rival clans, but it’s too late. They’ve already decided that their hearts belong to each other.”
The love between Claire’s parents has its beginnings in the First World War and starts to simmer sight unseen. “It’s an epistolary romance to begin with,” says Corfield. “It’s a meeting of minds through words.” Once the two unite in person, they become inseparable until the dreaded stones tear them apart. While Julia longs to be reunited with her husband, her determination to conquer all that the 18th century throws at her is not just about Henry. “A lot of her choices are perhaps more for her children than for herself,” says Corfield. “But that’s love, isn’t it? Love is what drives them all to make the decisions that they make, and I think it just proves that love is the strongest force in the world, stronger than hate and fear.”
As viewers are currently more familiar with their offspring than the characters themselves, Roberts and his writers made sure to infuse some of Jamie and Claire’s essence into their parents. “Ellen’s definitely got the MacKenzie fire, that’s how Jamie gets that. And I think Jamie always thinks a few steps ahead. He probably gets that from Brian, who is very introspective. They also have a sense of fairness that I think he gets from both of them,” says exec producer Maril Davis. On Claire’s side, Henry is the one who gives his daughter her romantic side. The steely resolve, demonstrated in different ways, is a quality inherited from both parents. “That curiosity to know everything and look at things with wonder, that comes from Julia who has this innate instinct to just learn and learn and learn. And, also, to strive for something other than what society says you can be,” says Roberts. “And Henry is a fighter who will fight for the things that he loves, with a blind passion sometimes. We’ve seen Claire do that over the course of the show. That comes from Henry, whereas Julia might think it all the way through.”
Roberts and Davis also saw Blood of My Blood as an opportunity to expand the storylines of characters often seen on Outlander, but never truly explored. “On Outlander, we wanted to stay central with Jamie and Claire so everything flows through them,” says Roberts. “That’s not the case on Blood of My Blood. We can go down other roads with other characters, because I think the fans really want to know about Murtagh, Colum and Dougal, and how they became who they became. It opens up a lot of doors.” One door that remains closed, however, is a meet-and-greet between Claire and her parents, however far in the future it may be. “That’s canon in both the book and the show, so she can’t know that they meet,” says Roberts. “You can read into that any way you want.”
What you don’t need is an advanced degree in Outlander to enjoy the prequel. “I don’t think you need to know anything,” says Roberts. “You can come into [the series] and fall in love with these characters. And if you want to know more, you go watch Outlander. You don’t have to watch it, but I recommend it highly. Then you can play along and see some of the nuggets that are in there. You get all these little Easter eggs and you go, ‘Oh, that’s what that means,’ so you’re almost watching it two ways.”
Outlander: Blood of My Blood airs Friday, August 22, on Starz 1 & Starz 2