Sam Heughan gave an interview to PopSugar about Outlander season three and his fans. Below are the excerpts, but head over to PopSugar to read the entire interview.
PS: Is there anything in the upcoming season that might take diehard fans of the books by surprise?
SH: We always try to stick as close as we can to the books, but obviously it’s hard to make a book episodic. I think there is going to be stuff in there that the fans will recognize since we put in as much detail as possible, but there’s some really incredible moments. Certainly the beginning of season three is a slight deviation from the book. We’re going to be showing a bit of Culloden, and what happened to Jamie. You’re going to see it, and I think it’s important since we talked about this battle, and that the Highlanders are doomed, and that they might be wiped out. It’s a reward for the fans. There’s one moment in particular that I didn’t even know we were going to shoot, and I know the crew didn’t, and everyone was like, “What the hell is this?!” There are some big surprises, but there are also some great moments from the book that we try to stick to as much as possible.
PS: There’s going to be a sizable time jump in season three, which we already got a taste of at the end of the last season in Claire’s storyline. As an actor, are you approaching the role of Jamie differently now that so many years have passed and he’s essentially a different man?
SH: In book three, Jamie is many characters. He’s at least three, maybe four different things to people. He has different names, and basically he doesn’t want to be Jamie Fraser. He wants to die at the end of season two, and he goes into battle thinking he will. To live is not part of the plan, and certainly without Claire, it’s even more so not what he was expecting. He has to learn to fight again, and find purpose in his life. Aging became not about giving him a walking stick and gray hair. It became more about the experiences that he’s lived, and how that changes him. I think he is, at times, unrecognizable. Sometimes we see the Jamie we know, but it will be a journey for him to get back to being James Fraser.
PS: We’ve seen that Jamie and Claire’s love is incredibly strong, but this long period without each other has to take its toll. In what ways would you say their relationship is going to be challenged?
SH: In his mind she’s dead. She’s in the future living a different life, and she thinks he’s dead. They both create new lives without each other to try to survive and cope, so you can imagine that when they do finally reunite, it’s going to be quite special. Time has passed, they’ve become different people, but they do have this great love for each other and this great bond. Ultimately that’s their saving grace, and what brings them back together. They have so much history. It’s really wonderful to play these characters who have moved on from where they were in season one, but hopefully you’ll still see bits of what attracted them to each other in the first place.
Source: PopSugar
