The hit Starz series Outlander is getting a spinoff series titled Blood of My Blood. The show will bring new understandings of fan-favorite figures from the show's past and tell the story of how the parents of Jamie Fraser and Claire Beauchamp (the leading characters of the flagship show) originally met.
Harriet Slater stars as Ellen MacKenzie alongside Jamie Roy as Brian Fraser, while Hermione Corfield's Julia Moriston and Jeremy Irvine's Henry Beauchamp bring Claire's parents to life. During a virtual press conference for Outlander: Blood of My Blood, the series' stars explained how this new spin-off might reframe and give new context to the characters fans have come to know and love.
Rory Alexander, who plays Murtagh, noted that this series gives audiences "the opportunity to go back, sort of pre-trauma," when "he's pretty wide-eyed and has high hopes for himself in the world."
Ned Gowan actor Conor MacNeill revealed that in Blood of My Blood, audiences get to "see a fieryness in [Ned] that wasn't necessarily there in the [original] show."
Seamus McLean Ross, who brings a younger Colum MacKenzie to life, noted that this show tells the story of Colum as he's becoming "a leader of a clan," showing "a young man who is just forced to be, not only much older in his years, but lead a group of people in ancient civilization and has a fire in his belly."
Rory Alexander (Murtagh Fitzgibbons Fraser), Conor MacNeill (Ned Gowan), Sam Retford (Dougal MacKenzie), Tony Curran (Lord Lavat), and Seamus McLean Ross (Colum MacKenzie) all spoke at the press conference. Their complete responses about the contextualization that this spin-off brings can be read below. Outlander: Blood of My Blood premieres on Starz on August 8, 2025.
How Outlander: Blood of My Blood Reframes the Original Show
Blood of My Blood Will Introduce New Sides to Outlander Characters Audiences Loved
- Question: "Obviously, there's a lot of myth and lore to all of your characters from 'Outlander'... So, I wanted to know from you guys what you think 'Blood of my Blood' reframes, or how it kind of complicates what we think we already know about these families and their dynamics?"
Rory Alexander: I think in terms of reframing Murtaugh, I think he is seen as this quite jaded character in the Outlander world that people know. So, the opportunity to go back, sort of pre-trauma, as it were, to see him on the other side of that, when he's pretty wide-eyed and has high hopes for himself in the world, is a bit of a gift.
Because we kind of know where he's going to end up, but how he gets there, you know, is going to be this kind of journey of highs and lows. So that's kind of the freedom of being like, actually, you know, he might get his day in the sun, even if we know he doesn't necessarily end up there, which is a really fun thing to be able to show people who are interested in his story.
Conor MacNeill: I think the scene with Ned [Gowan], whenever you see him towards the end, you know, he's very wise, and he's an old sage in Outlander, and this version, you see a fieryness in him that wasn't necessarily there in the in the other show, and he it's kind of the journey of how he learned to become this sage old man, especially, putting up with what these guys put him through.
Sam Retford: It's a fantastic privilege to be given the blueprints, essentially, and the end goal, and then you as a actor, be able to fill in those gaps, and there is an infinitesimal amount of obstacles to be bounced between that allow us to end up at the Dougal, Colum, Ned and Murtaugh that we know and love.
Tony Curran: My old friend Clive Russell in Outlander played Lord Lovat originally, when you first see him with Jamie and Claire, going back to the sort of genesis of where a lot of these characters come from. It's lovely to get the opportunity to play someone who actually existed. Simon Fraser Lord Lovat fought in the Battle of Culloden before he was decapitated a few years later on the Tower of London.
So, to have the opportunity to play someone like this, and to fill his shoes, or his boots, as it were, with the sort of intensity that the writing brings, is a real joy. And to play against most of these fellows behind me, some of them I have played with, as it were, some of them I've yet to, but I look forward to it.
Seamus McLean Ross: For me, Gary Lewis has got this kind of sardonic, kind of cynicism in his portrayal of Colum MacKenzie in his older years. And again, I think for all of us, it's the formative years of the characters. And this is a time of Colum's life [as he's becoming] a leader of a clan.
And that is a really interesting kind of narrative thread of such a young man who is just forced to be, not only much older in his years, but lead a group of people in ancient civilization and has a fire in his belly... When they're older, they're more cynical about the world, and Colum's aspirations of what the clan can be, and also wider society, and his own ambitions ...
These are the times of our lives for everyone, 18 to 19 years old. So, getting to live in that is a joy.
Fans of the original Outlander can get an idea of what the final season of the series has in store for them with these five big spoilers from the books.
