When Outlander’s first spin-off series was announced, I was not really excited about it. The prospect of meeting Jamie and Claire’s parents made me a wee bit curious, but I was not too sure about following two couples on two completely different timelines. What tied them together besides their future children?
Then everything changed one dreary, Scottish summer day last year, when I sat across from Matthew B. Roberts and Maril Davis on the set of Outlander: Blood of my Blood.
Because I, as well as many other Outlander fans, had in fact been misled about how this prequel was really going to tackle the story of Jamie and Claire’s parents.
Time travel, it’s a family thing
It turns out that Roberts, who is the showrunner and executive producer of Blood of my Blood alongside fellow Outlander veteran EP Maril Davis, has been toying with the idea of a prequel series since season 5 of the original show.
Back then, he approached Diana Gabaldon, the author of the book series Outlander is based upon, who approved the idea of a prequel, and he started thinking: the story of how Jamie's parents met and fell in love is known in the Outlander books as he tells Claire about it, but what about hers? All we know is that they died in a car accident.
“What if they didn't die? She's a time traveler and we know that one of your parents has to be a time traveler,” explained Roberts during the set visit.
“What if they were on holiday in Scotland when that car crash happened? And what if they survived that crash and found the stones ? What if they go through the stones to the time where they meet Brian and Ellen?”
From there, Roberts figured the show would be about telling the love stories of these two couples, who are so intertwined that perhaps without Henry and Julia Beauchamp, then Ellen and Brian’s union would not have happened, meaning there would be no story to tell in Outlander.
Talk about ramping up the stakes! As soon as Roberts presented that time travel plot twist for Claire’s parents, I was sold on Blood of my Blood and wanted to know more.
Romeo and Juliet meet The Sopranos
And here is the thing: there is more, so much more to Blood of my Blood because this show is not just about romance, it’s about clans.
In fact, Roberts revealed that the Scottish clans featured on the show have a mob feel to them.
“You have this big clan, the Grants, and they're like the New York mob, they have all the soldiers and the power and they have the influence with the Crown. And then you have Clan MacKenzie, the smaller, maybe New Jersey clan or smaller Boston clan,” Roberts explained before noting that when he pitched the show, he described it as Romeo and Juliet meets The Sopranos.
“The politics are very much like that, but it's all based in family,” he added.
"It's a story of succession in a way which we haven't really seen in Outlander,” said Conor MacNeill who plays Ned Gowan, during a conversation with the show’s cast. "That's the fresh thing about this show, that narrative of succession and the clan laws in Scotland at that time."
Speaking of which, Scotland is another major character from the Outlander universe that Blood of my Blood is putting the spotlight back on. Because this prequel isn’t just diving into the youth of the MacKenzie siblings or Murtagh Fitzgibbons, it’s also revisiting the place which captured the minds of the Outlander fandom.
“You can put a camera anywhere in Scotland and it just looks incredible,” said Jeremy Irvine, who plays Henry Beauchamp. “Even when the weather is bleak it still looks amazing on camera. It really is magic.”
Returning to Outlander’s roots
Yes, Scotland is magic but so are the studios in which Outlander: Blood of my Blood is filmed. Nothing can quite prepare you, as a fan, to walk through the iconic sets of the Outlander universe. They are gigantic and full of details, and it feels like you’ve stepped through the stones yourself.
Looking around the set of Castle Leathers, the temporary home of Lord Lovat, Brian’s father, which was designed to look like the most decrepit of the three castles featured in the show since Simon Fraser has lost his social standing, I noticed an interesting ceiling showcasing celestial symbols.
Production designer Mike Gunn then said these were meant as a nod to the time-travel aspect of the story, and added that each set used in Blood of my Blood features that type of Easter egg.
He then took us to the great hall of Castle Leoch, where Outlander fans will notice several differences since they last saw it in the original series. The fireplace on one end has been removed, for example, as Gunn figured it would make sense for the castle to have changed during the three decades between Blood of my Blood and Outlander.
“We also shortened the balconies so it would appear that over time, they got bigger,” pointed out Gunn.
In this younger version of the castle, viewers of Blood of my Blood will meet the younger versions of key characters from the main series, like Dougal and Colum MacKenzie.
However, they will have no trouble recognizing them, as details from their overall look were influenced by their Outlander counterpart. Costume designer Trisha Biggar said that Dougal, for instance, already has his signature hat in the prequel.
Showing off the various costumes made for Blood of my Blood, which range from World War One soldier outfits to Beltane celebration dresses, Biggar underlined all the incredible details featured in them and the inspiration behind the designs.
That level of detail in the costumes and set designs of the series is something all the actors praised, explaining that little imagination is required of them when they step on the sets.
“The attention to detail is so incredible,” said Jamie Roy, who plays Brian Fraser. “It really does make everything so immersive that you don’t really have to think that hard. You put these clothes on, you stand in these sets and automatically you are in the world, and you can just concentrate on telling the best story you can.”
He’s right, because just standing in the great hall of Castle Leoch or in Julia’s flat in 1921 London, I felt like I was there, and I wasn’t even dressed in a period costume. And speaking of Julia’s home, it is another place where eagle-eyed Outlander fans will have fun finding Easter eggs and nods to how much of her there is in Claire.
As I left the studios, I could not help but think that Outlander fans were in for a treat with this new series, as it promises to be just as epic as anyone could hope.
And if die-hard Outlander fans need one more reason to check out this new show, note that more than one episode of season one was penned by none other than Diana Gabaldon herself. If that isn’t a seal of approval, then I don’t know what is.
Outlander: Blood of my Blood arrives in the US on Starz on August 8th, and on MGM+ in the UK on August 9th.
You must confirm your public display name before commenting
Please logout and then login again, you will then be prompted to enter your display name.
