Wizard World: Cast of Outlander Dishes about the Show

Wizard World Chicago Comic Con continued its programming with a fun and revealing panel with some of the cast members of Starz’s Outlander, along with the author of the series Diana Gabaldon. Though leads Caitriona Balfe and Sam Heughan were originally supposed to be a part of this panel, their schedules made that impossible – so Balfe had her own panel on Thursday (read our recap here) and Heughan cancelled his appearance at the convention altogether, but Skyped with fans individually on Friday instead. Co-stars Graham McTavish, Richard Rankin, Lotte Verbeek, and Sophie Skelton more than made up for Balfe and Heughan’s absence by sharing their opinions about the show, each other, and their hidden talents.

On getting involved with the television show:

• Rankin, a Scotsman, knew about the show before he was cast in it, since it had such a “huge impact on Scotland.” He also added that “tourism in Scotland just kind of rocketed” after the show’s premiere in 2014. Rankin also joked that his house is now featured on Outlander-themed tours of Scotland.
• McTavish had not read the books before getting involved with the show. He was surprised by the show’s success: “I think for a lot of us, we were – me, Sam, Caitriona, Grant [O’Rourke], Stephen [Walters], Duncan [Lacroix], all of those guys doing our weird Highland bootcamp – we had no idea, honestly, that it would be such an extraordinary success. It was a great pleasure doing it, though, and it’s one of the things I’m most proud of being involved in.”
• Skelton noted that she hadn’t seen the show before getting cast as Brianna because “the first season’s airing was delayed by our Prime Minister.” (It’s true! The first season was supposed to premiere in the United Kingdom in the fall of 2014, right when Scotland was scheduled to have a referendum on independence. David Cameron, the Prime Minister at the time, pressured Sony to delay Outlander‘s release in the UK until March 2015, for fear that it would have an impact on how Scottish men and women voted.)
• Verbeek admitted that, while she hadn’t read the books before working on the film, she relied on the series’ extensive fan community for research: “You guys put so much info online, that I learned about the character and the show and different storylines – so thank you!”
• Gabaldon joked, “It takes so many people to get 30% of the books into a television show,” before adding, “They do a fabulous job of adaptation, and the actors are truly wonderful.”

On Sophie Skelton and Richard Rankin’s involvement in the show:

• According to Rankin, “The story really diversifies in the fourth book, and thusly the fourth season in a different way. I just love how each of the books, and each of the seasons, just take you somewhere completely unexpected.” Of all the scenes in the show, he most admired “the Jamie and Randall scene in Season 1,” since “it was bold, it was shocking, it said a lot, it set up a lot for Jamie going in the second season and how that’s affected him and he carries that with him. It just shows how complex Jack Randall is as a character […] Tobias [Menzies] just nailed it. You can see so much going on in the character – everything he does is for a reason, everything is justified to him and it comes across so well. In that scene, they just went for it.”
• Skelton prepared for the emotional scene in which Brianna learns that Jamie, not Frank, is her father by studying Balfe and Heughan’s performances and trying “to incorporate a lot of their mannerism into Bri.” She added, “Even though Brianna is very much a daddy’s girl in terms of her love and adoration of Frank, I also wanted to make sure she didn’t really have elements of Frank in her. So there is always a part of Bri that knew there was a bit of her missing, even though she and Frank have such a wonderful relationship; so that when Bri does find out about Jamie, it’s almost as if her anger and her animosity towards her mother in that moment comes from a defensive place of knowing that something was wrong.”

On what they would do instead of acting or writing:

• Rankin: “Photography. Really long, indulgent photography.” Skelton shared that it takes Rankin ages to set up a shot, an allegation he did not deny.
• Skelton: “My career choices were kind of a tossup between [becoming] a surgeon and acting.” Rankin teased, “The medical world realized that would have been a horrible mistake. So she went into acting, and we’re all better for it.”
• McTavish: “I was going to be a pilot” because his father had been in the Royal Air Force.
• Gabaldon: “Woodworking.”

On filming and production:

• Rankin noted that the cast gets scripts late in the process. Often it’s “two hours before we shoot the scene.” McTavish quipped that it was because producers and showrunners sometimes do not want actors’ opinions: “They just lock us in a cupboard and then they let us out on ‘action.’ Then back in the cupboard.”
• Verbeek emphasized the creative differences between film and television production in the United States versus Europe: “In Europe you tend to be more involved in discussions about the script and you get to add a lot of ideas – suggestions you make for your character or even the storyline. In the bigger American TV [productions], everything gets run by the producers. [Sometimes you’ll be shooting] in Glasgow, and there’s a phone call to the producers in LA to see if a line or even a word can be changed – that’s quite nitty-gritty. I feel like there is more freedom in Europe but it’s also sometimes a bit more of a mess.” Skelton agreed that “there are a lot more cooks” on American productions, where producers, rather than directors, make most of the creative decisions. “Europe,” she added, “does seem a little more collaborative.
• McTavish joked that he judges a production solely on the basis of its catering.

On which costumes they enjoyed the most:

• Verbeek teased that she likes the “blood costume” the best, referring to episode 312 when Geillis steps out of a bath of blood. “It’s just really easy to slip into, but not so much to slip out of.” She particularly enjoyed “the raven [dress]” from the witch trial in episode 111 and appreciates costume designer Terry Dresbach‘s immaculate attention to detail: she always gives Geillis’s costumes “a weird element, because it’s Geillis. So one of the last costumes had all these little creatures on the fabric, and if you looked up close there were really creepy little birds and monkeys. I don’t know if that was ever shown [on TV]; just the amount of detail was extraordinary.”
• Skelton appreciated Brianna’s 1960s fashion: “I think one of my favorite ones was the tartan poncho with the white fishnet tights.” She also marveled at Dresbach’s ability to tell stories through costume: “One of my favorites as well was Brianna’s black costume for Frank’s memorial because Terry had done a really clever thing where she had Sam in a very similar white collar, and the scenes kind of merged into each other. It was a really nice reflection of Bri and Jamie wearing the same outfit but at completely different times. Terry’s attention to detail is just lovely.”
• Rankin: “Roger’s tan corduroys, which never seem to f*cking go away.”

On hidden talents:

• McTavish claims he likes drawing: “I’m quite good at drawing. I find it very relaxing.”
• Rankin is “stupendously skillful” at video games.
• Verbeek enjoys pole dancing: “Who knows? Maybe when [Geillis] comes back in the 2000s [Gabaldon] can write that in.”
• Skelton reported that she is “secretly quite good at table tennis,” to which Verbeek promised, “We won’t tell. Your secret is safe with us.”
• Gabaldon: “If you have read all 4 billion words that I’ve written, you probably already know everything I’m capable of.”

Thankfully Droughtlander is almost over – Season 4 of Outlander premieres on Starz on November 4, 2018.