Outlander Stars talk about the harrowing second half of Season 1

The first half of Outlander’s debut season ended with surprises (more Frank!), drama (2 attempted rapes in one episode, GOT has nothing on this show!), and one major OMG for fans (we have to wait HOW LONG for more?!). This weekend the series returns with 8 more episodes that are sure to bring even more drama, even more sex, and even more beautiful Scottish scenery.

At Paleyfest we had a chance to talk to the three stars of the series, as well as the author of the books, Diana Gabaldon, about what’s coming up. Warning: Spoilers ahead!

Gabaldon has been very outspoken about the thing that she’s most looking forward to seeing make the jump from page to screen: the rape of Jamie by Black Jack Randall. So what does she think now that she’s seen the scene in question? “It was fabulous. They did just a wonderful job. I admire them terrifically; both of them.”

Sam Heughan, when asked about getting up close and personal with his castmate Tobias Menzies (who plays both Frank and Black Jack Randall), had this to say, “As a person he’s very pleasant, as a character it’s going to be shocking, dark, and slightly disturbing.”

“It gets dark and personal in Wentworth Prison,” adds Menzies. ”It feels like some of the darker stuff that Diana wrote; certainly in the first book. But I hope it will also be, as well as being dark, it will be emotional and psychological, and a sort of fitting conclusion to what has become a deeper relationship between these two, a very bizarre and curious relationship between these two men.”

Heughan also gave a bit of a tease to the viewers who haven’t read the book (all five of you). “It goes in a different direction than I guess people would expect. It’s very dark, it’s very challenging viewing, and it really takes Claire and Jamie to this really interesting place in their relationship.”

The relationship between Jamie and Claire is of course the foundation of the entire series. And what makes the story work so well is that on a channel like STARZ, Outlander can allow the expression of Claire’s own sexuality to be expressed as well as her male partners, something you don’t see on network television (the MPAA still rates any film with a female seems to enjoy sex with at least an R rating, while their male counterparts get PG-13). “I think its integral to who she is,” says Caitriona Balfe (Claire Randall/Fraser). “She’s a very passionate person, and she just to me feels very elemental. And as much as when she sees someone hurt, it’s instinctual she has to go and heal and make sure they’re ok. It’s the same mechanism that fires, she’s passionate when she’s in love, and I just love that about her.”