‘Outlander’ Spoilers: Starz Series Casts David Berry As Lord John Grey

Outlander, the series that airs on Starz, has released news that David Berry has been cast for the part of Lord John Grey in its upcoming third season. Word has it that this character will play a major role in the life of Jamie Fraser when Claire returns to his life 20 years after the Battle of Culloden. Those who have read the Outlander book series can confirm this and can testify that Lord John Grey is a reader favorite.

The casting of this Outlander book series favorite was critical given the importance of the Lord John Grey character and his popularity among readers. Australian David Berry will play the part that Starz describes as follows, per a report by Entertainment Weekly.

“He’s a steadfast and honorable British subject, torn between a finely-honed sense of familial duty and a strong moral compass of right and wrong. He is boyishly handsome with an upper class rearing — the consummate gentleman. However, a scandal from his past has relegated Lord John to an undesirable position as governor of a desolate prison in Northern Scotland.”

Spoilers for Season 3 of Outlander begin now. You’ve been warned.

David Berry will be playing a very important part in the next season. He will bring a twist to the plot of Outlander that only readers of the book series will see coming. Lord John Grey is homosexual. Vanity Fair quotes Diana Gabaldon, author of the books, as saying that Grey is homosexual in “a time when to be homosexual was a capital offense, and Lord John has more than most to lose by discovery. He belongs to a noble family, he’s an officer in His Majesty’s Army, and loves both his family and his regiment; to have his private life discovered would damage — if not destroy — both. Consequently, he lives constantly with conflict.”

David Berry’s Lord John Grey portrayal won’t be the first character in the Outlander series who is homosexual. Jamie was terrorized by Jack Randall in a sexual assault that left fans shaken. The scene was brutal, but Outlander’s Sam Heughan explained to The Wrap that it was about more than the physical act.

“Ultimately that episode, for us, was not just about being raped. It was about the torture beforehand, it was about this mental chess game that they’re playing, and then obviously this horrific thing that happens to Jamie, but also afterwards — Jamie, not broken. His body maybe, but his mind isn’t… That’s what Black Jack Randall sees in Jamie, that he needs to break his mind, he needs to break that resilience that Jamie’s got — and the resilience is his love for Claire [Caitriona Balfe]. That’s sort of the core of Jamie’s fortitude and strength. That’s what makes it really interesting, I think. Just having a rape is certainly not interesting for anyone. It’s more about the mental battles going on between these men.”

This traumatic event in Jamie’s past will make his relationship with Grey complex and interesting to watch unfold, since it seems this is not a relationship of violence.

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Jamie’s rape in Season 1 of Starz’s Outlander series left him devastated and influenced the storyline for several episodes. In a time when homosexuality was a crime, dealing with such an atrocity involved an angle not present today. When David Berry’s Lord John Grey makes his feelings known, it’s sure to bring back that experience. Outlander showrunners will have to deal with it delicately, but realistically.

Fans of the Outlander book series love Lord John Grey so much that author Diana Gabaldon wrote a series that focuses on the character. They have been very successful and set quite a high bar for David Berry and producers of the Outlander Starz series. Of the 31 episodes that have aired so far, Gabaldon has been a writer on 29. Given her level of involvement in the TV show, fans of the book series are sure to be pleased.

[Photo by Anthony Harvey/Getty Images]