‘Outlander’ Star Caitriona Balfe Says ‘The Pressure Cooker Is On!’
Outlander has spent the past weeks preparing for war and, coming up in the next episode, the series will premiere the first battle of that war, as the characters played by Caitriona Balfe and Sam Heughan meet the enemy on the field at Prestonpans.
Warning: This article contains spoilers for Outlander.
Balfe has revealed that victory is assured, but not without cost. The Outlander stars reveal more about what fans can expect as Claire and Jamie play their parts in the impending rebellion.
Outlander Actress Caitriona Balfe Teases An Emotionally Intense Story Arc
“The pressure cooker is on!” Caitriona says of the direction in which Outlander‘s second season is headed. “The action really ramps up, and time is really pushing on Claire and Jamie, and on everyone. It gets really active and really intense, but yeah, we know that it doesn’t all end very well, so it’s got that doom sort of looming over it as well.”
Sam Heughan agrees with Balfe, adding that the battle at Prestonpans will be a major turning point for the characters and not necessarily in a good way. The Outlander actor says there’s much doom headed their way and Prestonpans is just the start of it.
Outlander executive producer echoes the sentiments of both Caitriona and Sam, adding that, from the characters’ standpoint, it’s difficult to stay motivated and to keep fighting for something, when the outcome is already known. The Outlander showrunner adds that it’s especially troublesome, when the characters’ knowledge of that outcome also forces them to face the fact that they will more than likely fail.
“I think we’ve done an amazing job, though this season we’ve struggled a bit because we had to fill in some gaps, and we were dealing with this issue of how there’s a doomed cause at the end. How do we keep them fighting for it?”
Outlander‘s Characters Face The Futility Of The Fight
Caitriona Balfe reveals that the victory to be achieved at Prestonpans is to cost Claire and Jamie dearly and that even their characters realize it at the moment, remarking on the bitterness of victory. Balfe says even though winning the battle raises the hopes and the morale of their army, Sam and Claire will have lost friends. The Outlander actress adds that the futility of their situation begins to make itself apparent to Claire.
“In the face of that kind of adversity and in the face of fate where you know in your heart of hearts that it’s all about to go wrong, you can’t believe it,” Balfe says. “Because if you did, you would just stop right there. For Jamie and Claire, this is where we see that they are fighters to the end. Even if they know that it’s a futile fight, they’ll still fight to the end.”
Executive producer Ron Moore adds that Claire sees the idea of things ending badly growing more and more prevalent in her mind and, although she still fights and plays the role in which Fate has cast her, she can’t deny the futility of it. The Outlander showrunner says Balfe’s character fights only because it’s really the only course of action open to her.
Caitriona also points out that Claire was never in her right frame of mind, not since her miscarriage, and that’s something that contributes to how the Outlander character copes with the battle and the things happening around her. While she has previously been a source of strength, armored with a thick skin and the heart of a fighter, Balfe says all of that has changed for Claire.
“Her skin is thinner, she’s much rawer, and when we start preparing for war, it brings up everything,” says the Outlander actress. “All of her past experiences, and the horror that we saw that she went through, it’s much closer to the surface now, so when she’s triggered, it all just comes flooding back.”
The next episode of Outlander airs on Saturday, June 18 on Starz.
[Image by Starz]
