If you are familiar with the Outlander novels by Diana Gabaldon, then you probably know that there is an offshoot of them that focuses on the character Lord John Grey. When there were early talks off an Outlander television series spinoff, of course the majority of the book fans though it would be a Lord John Grey series. David Berry portrays Lord John Grey in the Outlander series and there have been quotes along the way that said he would be up for starring in the spinoff. When Blood of My Blood was announced, the response was, well, not what everyone expected. I now mine was more like, “Huh?”
Since wrapping on Outlander season eight, David Berry in the latest round of press interviews for the newest season seven episodes has been more forthcoming on what happened with that Lord John Grey series. Surprisingly, fans would have seen a spinoff series years ago and it was farther along in development than previous reports.
Below are quotes from a Deadline article featuring an interview with David Berry. Head over to Deadline to read the entire article.
“I haven’t spoken about this. But I think that since the series is over, I feel a bit more comfortable talking about it,” Berry shared. “There was a time in Season 4 when we were going to shoot our Lord John series; it had been written— well, there was a writer attached and I’d signed a contract to do a series. It went down to the wire of whether or not it would get approved by the network, but ultimately, at the time, it was decided that that wasn’t the right fit, or wasn’t the right thing for them. I was prepared to do it, and I’m still prepared to do it,” he continued.
“Matt [B. Roberts] and Maril [Davis], executive producers on Outlander, have also expressed a lot of interest in doing it. So I guess it really depends on finding a network for it and audience interest in moving forward and doing a spin-off. But definitely, it was something that was on the cards at one point. The fact that it didn’t go ahead was very disappointing at the time. But whether or not it will go ahead again, that’s really in the hands of the audiences, and whether or not there is still an interest in seeing more from this character,” Berry shared.
It sounds like a Lord John Grey series may still happen if the fans really want it. I’m not sure how to covey our positive reaction and support to Starz, Sony Pictures Television, and Tall Ship Productions. It seems that Matthew B. Roberts is hopeful that Blood of My Blood will get a second season, so his focus is not on Lord John Grey right now. Time will tell, but we would love to see a Lord John Grey series!
Source: Deadline
