Fans are eagerly awaiting the Aug. 9 premiere of “Outlander,” the Starz series starring Sam Heughan and Caitriona Balfe as two of moder🌄n literature’s most passionate couples, Jamie ꩵFraser and Claire Randall.
Si✃nce the book was published in 1991, women have seen themselves in bright, stubborn, resourceful Claire and have lon﷽ged to see themselves with a man like Jamie — a generous lover, capable protector and soul mate.
In the book, Englishwoman Claire Randall (Balfe) is a nurse in post-WWII Britain, traveling with her husband, Frank (Tobias Menzies) in Scotland. After a mystical morning, Claire finds herself swept into the Scottish Highlands in 1743, amidst the coming Jacobite uprising. Starz and its production partners are shooting the 16-episode first season in Scotland, dressing the men in complex Highlands kil𒆙ts and even having some of the cast speak Gaelic.
After literally dropping into the middle of a skirmish, Claire narrowly escapes being assaulted by a distant relative of her husband’s, Captain Jonathan “Black Jack” Randall (also played by Menzies) but is rescued by the MacKenzie clan, led by Colum (Gary Lewis) and Dougal MacKenzie (Graham McTavish). Claire, of whom everyone is suspicious because of her high-born manner and curious dress, also makes the acquaintance of swash-buckling Jamie Fraser (Heughan). Little d💝oes she know her heart is about to split in two.
“This is the story of a woman who is in love and married to both of these men,” says the Irish-born Balfe, who has a tall, willowy build. “We star♓t off with Claire in WWII as a field nurse, and we see quite a bit of Claire and Frank’s relationship. We felt that was really important … so that the viewer would have a sense of what she’s lost. It’s a real struggle for her. She’s first and foremost a woman of the 1940s. That was her home and Frank was her home. This is a total curveball s𓆉he’s been thrown.”
That said, Claire adjusts relatively w𓃲ell to being thrown back 200 years in time.
The popular series g♓ot its start as literary exercise by Diana Gabaldon, then a research professor at Arizona State University, who never intended for anyone to read her story. She posted a portion on a CompuServe forum, leading an author to introduce her to a literary agent. Her career as a novelist was born.
“I thought, I must have a lot of Scotsmen, and now I think it would be a good idea to have a female to play off these guys and create sexual tension and conflict,” says Gabaldon, during a Starz-funded𝓡 visit to the “Outlander” set. “I followed her for several pages trying to beat her into shape and make her talk like an 18th century woman, but she wasn’t having any of it. She just kept making smart-ass modern remarks and she also took over and started telling the story herself.
Gabaldon’s seven-book series has sold over 20 million copies and the eighth book, “Wr⛄itten in ๊my Own Heart’s Blood,” became an instant best seller.
While the time-travel aspect of the series is interesting, it’s the romance, the action and the sex that’s kept fans swooniꦓng since “Outlander” was first published.
Executive producer Ronald D. Moore says they didn’t find their Claire until four days before shooting was set to begin. “Claire is a complicated role. It’s an internal role where we’re in her head a lot,” h🦹e say⛄s. “It took a lot of time to find the right person.”
“One of my sisters has read all seven books since I got cast, 🎉and my other sist✃er has almost finished the first book. They text me things like, ‘Oh my God, you are so Claire,’ ” says Balfe.
Like𒉰 most of the series’ fans, Balfe identifies with Claire.
“Claire is a strong woman, and a ve💖ry sexually comfortable woman,” says Balfe, wh๊o speaks in a barely noticeable Irish accent. “We’re showing a woman who is in love and married to both of these men and has a healthy sexual appetite.”