When Starz’s epic romance series, Outlander, began in 2014, the series introduced audiences to the world of the Scottish highlanders. Their lovely Tartan-wearing ways, their disdain for the British and Claire (Caitríona Balfe) and Jamie’s (Sam Heughan) epic love story. The highly anticipated prequel series, Outlander: Blood of My Blood, is set to carry on the legacy of the flagship series hopefully to new heights when the show premieres on Friday, August 8. Central to the story will be the romance of Jamie’s (Sam Heughan) parents as well as Claire’s (Caitríona Balfe) parents as the spin-off stretches across time to bring love to our screens. However, love, passion and romance won’t be the only things we will come to know about Outlander: Blood of My Blood.
Throughout the seven-season run of Outlander, and even into its upcoming eighth and final season, the series has had its fair share of politics and war sprinkled in. While Jamie and Claire’s romance held sway, their family dynamics and the politics of the world wherein they find themselves were equally explored. It is a pattern that looks set to continue in the prequel series. “One of the things we wanted to explore on Blood of My Blood is not only the family dynamics, but the clan dynamics,” says Matthew Roberts, the prequel series’ creator to Entertainment Weekly. “How the intrigue and the political backstabbing created the environment that creates Jamie Fraser and what he was born to.”
In Outlander: Blood of My Blood, the prequel series will put the spotlight on Jamie’s parents, Ellen MacKenzie (Harriet Slater) and Brian Fraser (Jamie Roy), and Claire’s parents, Julia Moriston (Hermione Corfield) and Henry Beauchamp (Jeremy Irvine), as they tell epic love stories of their own. Roberts goes on to explain that the prequel will make fans understand a host of the characters we meet in Outlander and even the world Jamie is born into. “What I really liked about when we started this process was seeing these people before who they become in Outlander. Most of us aren’t the same people we were when we were 18, 19, or 20 years old. Life has changed us as our environment around us changed,” Roberts adds.
Some Familiar Characters in ‘Outlander: Blood of My Blood’ Will Be Very Different
Given that Jaime is not yet born at the beginning of Outlander: Blood of My Blood, the show would rely on familiar faces from the flagship series to hold the interest of older audiences. One of those familiar characters will be Jamie’s beloved cousin, Murtagh Fitzgibbons Fraser, played by Duncan LaCroix in Outlander and by Rory Alexander in the upcoming prequel. The difference between the Murtagh in both shows will be significant, as series creator Roberts explains:
“Who they become isn’t who they are now. We know and love Murtaugh as being this constant companion, but he wasn’t born that way. He wasn’t born just to follow Jamie around. How did he get that way? Who was he prior to being this very stoic, closed-hearted man? because he is very, very closed off. But the Murtagh you meet in Blood of My Blood isn’t that way.”
Mark your calendars for the debut episode of Outlander: Blood of My Blood on Friday, August 8.