‘Outlander’ premieres Aug. 9 at 9 p.m. on Starz.
What would you do if you were on vacation with your husband in Scotland, and you accidentally time traveled to the 1700s? Such is the dilemma faced by Claire Randall, the heroine of Diana Gabaldon’s “Outlander” books. Luckily for Claire, she’s a World War II era nurse, and those skills end up being pretty helpful in the Scottish highlands where the men she meets are constantly skirmishing with the English. The books are now getting the Starz TV series treatment, with Caitriona Balfe stepping into the role of Claire. We caught up with her to ask about all that time travel. And yes, we asked her which guy she thinks Claire should end up with: her sweet modern husband Frank, or her sexy new beau from the past, Jamie.
What to do if you have to share a horse with someone for an entire episode:
“Being on a horse with someone else is not the most comfortable thing. Sam (Heughan, who plays Jamie) and I got to know each other pretty well through that whole bit. We spent about two or three weeks on this horse together in the freezing cold and the rain, but it’s all good fun. It’s all part of it.”
Why Claire is going to be OK in the past:
“A lot of battles that she faces are this kind of idea that as a woman you should know your place, and I don’t think she’s ever been a someone who would accept that notion…. She doesn’t accept those parameters or those boundaries that people try and force her into. She constantly battles against it. She uses her medicinal experience to kind of alleviate her status in that way. She finds in Jamie someone who’s very willing to open his mind and evolve and accept her as an equal partner.
Which guy Claire should pick:
I think as Caitriona, I don’t know, I couldn’t! I think as Claire, even though she loved Frank a lot, it was a love that she didn’t really question. He was her first love. She met him very young. She was just sort of going through the motions of her life, in a way. When she met Jamie it was just this kind of other passion, this really otherworldly and metaphysical love. I guess, in terms of that, yeah, you’d go for the big passion!
We didn’t specifically need an extra image for this post, but we’ve included this one to help you understand Claire Randall’s decision making process.
