‘Outlander’ Season 3 Rumors: Caitriona Balfe Confirms, Again, That She And Sam Heughan Are Not Dating

Outlander fans still stuck in the middle of the so-called “Droughtlander” need all the news they can get about their favorite show and its actors, but the latest Outlander Season 3 rumors address, yet again, those ever-persistent but completely unfounded rumors about whether Caitriona Balfe, who plays Claire Randall Fraser, and Sam Heughan, who plays Jamie Fraser, are really dating.

In a recent interview with the print edition of Vanity Fair Italia, Caitriona Balfe set the record straight again about those persistent Outlander Season 3 rumors of her and Sam dating:

“It’s a compliment, we work hard to achieve that chemistry. We are good friends and we have a similar view on life. He is definitely more in shape of me: if I had one gram of the will he has to go to the gym, I’d be the happiest woman on earth. What really bothers me is when people claim we are together. It’s not true.”

Some fans took offense to the last sentence (that is, when Caitriona said, “what really bothers me is…”), but it’s understandable that one would get frustrated if one had said the same thing, repeatedly, and people refused to believe it or insisted it wasn’t true. Also, many American fans misinterpreted the tenor from the original Italian: the word used in the printed interview was “infastidisce,” which means “annoys” in Italian. In the Italian language, then, the intent was to demonstrate her annoyance of people not believing her when she said she wasn’t dating her co-star, not that fans “bothered” her.

As fans of the show know, this isn’t the first time that Caitriona has addressed the Outlander Season 3 rumors of her dating Sam. During the promotional run for the second season, Caitriona sat down with People Magazine and revealed that not only was she decidedly not dating her co-star, she was getting tired of having a conversation about it.

“Honestly I’m tired of that conversation. This is fantasy. This is our job. We are very different in our private life. We are best friends. From the moment we met, we got along. Sam is one of the most generous people you’ll ever meet. Such a great guy, no ego involved.”

Sam Heughan echoed her sentiment in the same interview and apologized if anyone felt “duped” because their on-screen chemistry didn’t translate to a real-life love off-screen.

“It saddens me a bit but I guess that means we’ve done a good job. I don’t know. It’s a strange one. I’m still coming to terms with what it’s like to have people follow your personal life as well as your public life. It gets amusing. But she’s just wonderful. We’re very good friends.”

In addition, Caitriona addressed those ever-persistent Outlander Season 3 rumors again in a videotaped interview with E!. The actors, who are each dating other people, reiterated again that they are not dating each other.

Said Caitriona:

“We’re not together. It’s funny. We’ve always said from the get go that we’re incredibly great friends. And to have that friendship and that closeness and to be able to get along as we do on set, it’s great that we’re able to get along that well. We’re not together. I’m sorry to break people’s hearts. They like to try to maybe replicate the Claire and Jamie story. But I think it would be difficult for us to work together and be together.”

Sam, in that same interview, agreed with Caitriona’s statement.

“I think people buy into the show and us saying it’s not real, they feel like they’ve been duped. It’s like, ‘You acted it. You lied to us!’ And I’m like, ‘Well, sorry!'”

Perhaps now, and going forward, Outlander Season 3 rumors will focus on the upcoming episodes of the show, and not the dating lives of the actors since they have both confirmed that they are not dating each other.

Leave your thoughts about the latest Outlander Season 3 rumors in the comments below.

[Featured Image by Pascal Le Segretain/Getty Images]