With only one episode left in the Outlander-verse for Jamie and Claire, Caitriona Balfe spoke with Elle in a wide-ranging interview. This interview is from this month, so it is timely in its reaction and summary of the last season so far. And she STILL doesn’t know how the series ends! Below are excerpts from the interview; please head over to Elle to read the full article.
Much has changed across the television landscape in the 12 years since Outlander’s debut, when streaming was still in its infancy. “When you’re in the middle of it, it’s hard to see that whole journey,” Balfe admits. “Now, we’ve been doing a lot of looking back. It’s such a privilege. There are so few shows now that go this length of time. It does feel so mad when you look back to season 1 and how different things were.”
“I wish Claire had read the book, and then maybe she could have seen the dedication,” Balfe laughs. “We’re like, ‘Why doesn’t she look at it?’ [The writers were] like, ‘No, no. She just doesn’t.’” But Balfe was happy to have the “essence of Frank back in the show,” with Menzies providing voiceover earlier this season.
Thank you, Caitriona, because that bothered me, too. Some of the writing this season is lazy.
“I love how Claire is like, ‘It’s our story,’” Balfe says. “The way I was thinking of it, with all this talk about impending death and all of that, Claire is also thinking about her legacy, and her grandchildren, and what they’re going to know.” Balfe only found out about this plot development a week or two before filming episode 9, as the cast were kept completely in the dark about the final season’s storyline in advance of production.
Having spent a lot of this season on Fraser’s Ridge, Balfe was thrilled to play such a crucial gun-toting role in Lord John’s rescue party with Jamie and stepson William (Charles Vandervaart). “It felt like OG Claire again, which was quite nice,” she says.
Claire’s multiple marriages come up when I ask if she took any souvenirs from the set. “I requested my rings because there were multiples,” Balfe says. “I feel like Claire has had many weddings. She should have the hardware from them all.” She was also gifted some pieces from Claire’s closet that she’s since sported IRL. “For the last year and a half before the show aired, I was getting away with wearing one or two of Claire’s shirts all the time,” Balfe says. Throughout the final season, Balfe says she would pop into the costume department, led by Nadine Powell, to mention items she coveted. Viewers might not think pieces designed to suit the late 1700s would fit a 21st-century aesthetic, but go back and look at the stunning tailoring. “There was so much of the stuff [where] I was like, ‘Ooh, I can wear that in real life,’” Balfe agrees. “‘Can I have that? Can I have that?’ I have a little collection.”
Source: Elle
