Oh, Outlander, the epic, steamy, time travel drama that leaves fans breathless and forever wanting more. While period series have always been an entertainment staple, Outlander has maintained staggering popularity, bolstered by hundreds of millions of loyal fans over nearly a decade. To celebrate the end of “Droughtlander”, we put together a list of 20 fun facts you perhaps didn’t know about the popular series. This Outlander primer should wet your palette for the long-awaited season 7 premiere on Starz on June 16. Aye, should be a season to remember, Sassenach.
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1. Claire was the hardest role to cast
“At the outset, I told everyone that we would find Claire first and then Jamie would be the last one cast,” Outlander showrunner Ronald D Moore said. In reality, the opposite was true. Sam Heughan was the first person cast, whereas it took a long time to find the right Claire. “She had to be smart, she had to have a strength of character and she had to be someone that you could watch-think on camera. But then suddenly Caitriona Balfe’s tape came in and we had that light-bulb moment.”
2. Heughan was once a stable boy. Sort of.
“I used to live in sort-of converted stables on the grounds of a castle, and I spent a lot of my childhood running around with a pretend sword pretending to be Robert the Bruce,” he told EW in 2014.
3. Diana Gabaldan cameo
Gabaldan, the author of the Outlander book series, has made cameo appearances in a few episodes, including this speaking role in Season 1.
4. Sean Connery or LIam Neeson as Jamie?
The Outlander adaptation was originally envisioned as a feature film, and Gabaldan told E! News that Liam Neeson and Sean Connery were among the contenders to play Jamie Fraser.
5. Impact on Tourism
Outlander has significantly influenced tourism in Scotland. Fans from around the world visit filming locations and other Scottish landmarks featured in the series. Tourism to Scotland actually grew by a staggering 67 percent after the series premiered.
6. Those corsets are no joke
Balfe says the restrictive costumes actually help her get into character. “Once you’re sucked into these corsets, you realize just how repressed women were,” Balfe told Yahoo TV. “Your ability to emote, vocalize, and be physical is so restricted, purely because of the clothes.”
7. The costume department goes to great lengths to make clothes seem lived-in
Garments are no joke in the world of Outlander. To give clothes the appearance of being well-worn, the costume department uses everything from cheese graters to blow torches to texturize costumes.
8. The costume department is massive
It’s so big and complex that costume designer Terry Dresbach started a digital inventory system with barcodes called “Mother” to keep track of everything.
9. Spinoff novella
Gabaldon has written a novella titled “Virgins,” which focuses on an adventure featuring the characters Jamie Fraser and his friend Ian Murray during their time as young mercenaries in France.
10. Balfe and Heughan’s chemistry was instant
What sealed the deal on Balfe’s casting was her screen test with Heughan, Moore says. “We really felt that Cait was probably going to be the one but this was the final moment, this was when she literally sealed the deal and got the show… There is enough spontaneity and genuine affection and good humor between the two of them that it spoke volumes about their potential relationship.”
11. Give ‘em Props
While Outlander uses tons of props (dead bodies, weapons etc) the series never uses prop food. Every meal is real.
12. The Color Red
Moore specified that the color red should not be used anywhere in the show except for in the British Redcoats uniforms. Even here, there was a catch – Moore didn’t like the color of actual Redcoat uniforms and asked the costume department to create their own. “The one costume we could have rented lots of was Redcoats, but we couldn’t because Ron didn’t like the color of red,” costume designer Terry Dresbach (and Moore’s wife) shared with Harpers Bazaar. “Instead, we had to dye fabric to his color specifications and make our own Redcoats. He wanted a deeper, richer red rather than a bright cherry/candy apple red.”
13. Men make up at least 40 percent of the ‘Outlander’ U.S. audience.
Although they may be cautious to admit it! Star Trek legend William Shatner, who is a friend of Sam Heughan, certainly isn’t shy in sharing his love for Outlander, regularly tweeting about the show and Sam.
14. Richard Rankin embraced his inner-singer
Remember that Scottish festival Bree and Roger attended early in season four? Roger’s big singing performance was all Rankin. “You know what? I drove everyone absolutely nuts,” Rankin told the U.K. Express in his preparations for that scene. “I basically spent every minute of every day learning to play that track and it drove the crew nuts, so that was fun.”
15. Of all the actors, Heughan has to stay in makeup the longest
The scars take hours to apply—every, single time.
16. Balfe and Tobias Menzies (Frank) wrote love letters to each other in character
before filming sex scenes
The letters helped the actors feel less awkward around a full camera crew.
17. Sex scenes are highly choreographed
Any actor will tell you shooting sex scenes is far from sexy. Beyond that, viewers may not realize just how technical things get on-set. “We taped out the floor plan of the wedding chamber, and went through a very specific choreography, movement by movement,” Foerster said of mapping out the wedding night sex. “The actors felt comfortable—they knew where to move, which direction to fall on the bed, how their hair was falling so I could capture it—it’s very technical.”
18. Outlander was inspired by Doctor Who
Gabaldon has revealed that she got the initial idea for her first Outlander story while watching an old episode of the long-running British time travel series Doctor Who. “I was thinking a historical novel might be the easiest kind of book to write for practice when I happened to see a really old Doctor Who re-run,” Gabaldon said, adding that the character of the Doctor’s companion Jamie McCrimmon particularly inspired her. “Jamie struck me with his attitude and male gallantry, and I thought the kilt was rather fetching.”
19. Heughan is naturally blonde, but he dyes his hair red every two episodes.
Can you imagine blonde Jamie?
20. Balfe says Claire has helped her become a stronger person.
“I definitely think that her competency has shown me how strong I am,” the actress shared with The Hollywood Reporter.
Watch the season premiere of Outlander Friday, June 16 on Starz, and catch up with the full series on-demand!
