“Outlander” is one of the most successful historical TV series, that has gained a lot of popularity worldwide.
Let’s find out more about Outlander!
- Outlander is a historical drama TV series.
- It is based on the novel series of the same name by Diana Gabaldon.
- It is developed by Ronald D. Moore.
- The show premiered on August 9, 2014, on Starz.
- It stars Caitriona Balfe as Claire Randall.
- The plot is about an English combat nurse from 1945 is mysteriously swept back in time to 1743.
- The first season of the television series is based on the first novel in the series, Outlander.
- The novel is also known as Cross Stitch.
- The second season consists of 13 episodes.
- It is based on Dragonfly in Amber, and itaired from April to July 2016.
- The 13-episode third season, based on Voyager, and aired from September to December 2017.
- The 13-episode fourth season, based on Drums of Autumn, and aired from November 2018 to January 2019.
- The fifth season of 12 episodes, based on The Fiery Cross, and aired from February to May 2020.
- The series is renewed for a 12-episode sixth season to be based on A Breath of Snow and Ashes.
- Moore said of the pilot: “There’s a lot of things we did in the first thirty to forty minutes that aren’t in the book or are compilations of things that happened in the book”.
- Moore, who developed the series, emphasised that he did not want to present the time-travel dimension in a traditional special effects-laden science fiction manner.
- Describing the adaptation of the first season as “straightforward”, he explained: “it was always kind of clear what the basic structure was: Claire’s trying to get home, then she meets this guy, now she’s falling in love, now she has a conflict, will she go home. You lay it out in a very linear fashion”.
- Regarding the darker tone of the season’s second half, he said: “the show becomes more complicated and the emotional journey more wrenching.
- Gabaldon was employed as consultant to the TV production.
- When asked in June 2015 about the adaptation of the first season, she said: “I think they did condense it very effectively … I ended up getting most of the things that I felt strongly about in there. There were only a few instances where the most important stuff in my opinion didn’t get in”.
- In March 2015, she said of the scripts for season two: “The Parisian stuff is very good, and in fact I’m deeply impressed by the outlines I’ve seen … I think they’ve done a wonderful job of pulling out the most important plot elements and arranging them in a convincing way”.
- Gabaldon wrote the screenplay for the episode “Vengeance is Mine”.
- According to Moore, the writing and pre-production for season four began while season three was still in active production.
- Gabaldon wrote an episode for the fifth season.
- According to Ronald D. Moore , his crew decided to keep the Gaelic words instead of translating them to English
- This maintained the first person narrative by showing Claire’s inability to understand the Gaelic.
- This idea was suggested by producer David Brown, who said he’s seen something similar in Skin Deep (1998), a foreign alternative movie starring the actor and singer Gustavo Goulart.
- Many of the actors portraying Scots admit they wear their kilts authentically, meaning no underwear is worn beneath them.
- Caitriona Balfe, who was a ramp model before she ventured into acting, said in an interview that she is used to getting naked in front of 30 people and is confident in her body.
- Sam Heughan frequently appears shirtless on the show showing off his six pack abs and muscular physique but he’s admitted that he does it because fans of the show expect it, and he doesn’t enjoy it really.
- Heughan has said the he works out hard for the role to keep his physique ready for the camera and even does extra push-ups and sit-ups on set before a shirtless scene to get an extra pump.
- Doune Castle was used as Castle Leoch.
- The castle is famous for being featured in Monty Python and the Holy Grail.
- It was also used as Winterfell in Game of Thrones.
- The castle is located in the village of Doune, near Stirling.
- Sam Heughan, who plays Jamie Fraser in the series, is naturally blond in real life. Since the character has red hair in the books, he has to dye his hair periodically to play a redhead in the series.
- A full season was ordered before a pilot was ever shot, and the first episode was never filmed as a separate pilot.
- The guillotine referred to in the series is actually “The Maiden,” a Scottish beheading machine. Victims faced up, toward the blade. The Maiden was used from 1564 until 1710, for more than 150 executions.
- France began using the guillotine in 1789.
- This series is shot on the digital Alexa camera which handles low light conditions well. This allowed the creators to film many low light or candlelit scenes.
- When Laura Donnelly auditioned for the part of Janet “Jenny” Fraser, she found an old schoolmate would be her partner, Sam Heughan.
- They had previously attended acting school together.
- Sam Heughan was one of the first to be cast even though creator Ronald D. Moore thought he would be the last.
- Caitriona Balfe was cast just weeks before shooting.
- Author Diana Gabaldon has a cameo appearance in the episode “The Gathering,” playing Iona McTavish. She speaks to Mrs. Fitz (Annette Badland) as she escorts Claire to watch the oath taking ceremony.
- The castle referred to as Fort William is in fact Blackness Castle in West Lothian, Central Scotland.
- In the book, the early events took place during spring in the festival of Beltane. Because of the shooting schedule, they changed the season to autumn and focused on the holiday of Samhain.
- In the episode Both Sides Now, Hugh Munro gives Claire the wedding gift of a dragonfly in amber, as he does in the first book of the Outlander series. The second book in the series is titled Dragonfly in Amber.
- The village of Cransmuir is fictional.
- So, all outside scenes were filmed in the small historic village called Culross in Fife, Scotland.
- Culross is a National Trust For Scotland heritage village.
- Costume Designer Terry Dresbach is married to producer Ron Moore.
- She and Co-producer, Maril Davis, suggested the books to Moore to produce as a TV show.
- Executive Director Ronald D. Moore has a cameo in “The Gathering”.
- The project was originally conceived as a stand-alone film starring Katherine Heigl as Claire Randall.
- Several actors in Outlander have also appeared in Game of Thrones such as Tobias Menzies (Frank/Jack Randall) who played Edmure Tully and Clive Russell (Lord Lovat) who played Brynden Tully.
- Blackness Castle (depicted as Fort William) is located on the South Bank of the Firth of Forth, West Lothian, Central Scotland.
- Season 3 included several Easter Eggs in it according to Matt Roberts and Costume Designer Terry Dresbach.
- Dresbach revealed at the Thru The Stones convention, a costume worn in an earlier season was repurposed and worn by another character.
- The surname Menzies in Scotland is pronounced “Mingis”. It is also used as a christian name, e.g. Former Liberal Party leader and athlete Menzies “Ming” Campbell.
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