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Outlander’s Sam Heughan on his offscreen relationship with his costar, new episodes and more

By Barb Oates | Friday, February 27, 2015 3:43 pm

series, which follows the steamy romance and adventures between a 1945 former combat nurse, Claire Randall, and a 1743 Scottish warrior, Jamie Fraser — Saturday, April 4 can’t come fast enough. That’s when

makes its midseason premiere on Starz and begins the last eight episodes of Season 1.

This week a new audience was introduced to the titular series with iTunes releasing the first eight episodes for purchase. While the series started with a built-in fan base thanks to the international success of author Diana Gabaldon, whose bestselling novels the series is based on, word of mouth, social media and critical praise has lured in a whole new audience to both the TV series and the books.

Last month we sat down with the strapping Sam Heughan, who plays Jamie Fraser, where he gave us some insights (spoilers ahead if you haven’t seen the first 8 episodes) on what to expect when the series returns to Starz on Saturday, April 4 at 9pmET. (A marathon of the first eight episodes will air prior to the premiere beginning at 1pmET.)

“We start off from Jamie’s point of view, and we see everything that he goes through to get to the point where he [tries to] rescue her,” Heughan says.  “Their relationship is now tested constantly. They’re always battling to get back to each other, to find some sort of common ground. … It’s about their relationship moving forward, and discovering about each other. Largely, that’s what a modern relationship is, really. You learning about how to interact.”

While there’s plenty to discover in any modern day relationship, Jamie’s at quite a disadvantage due to the fact that his bride Claire (Caitriona Balfe) is this mysterious woman with incredible knowledge who comes from, well, he’s not quite sure where.

“No matter what happens, or whatever situation they’re in, at least they’ve got each other’s back. I think that’s a huge thing for anyone to get their head around — where from the moment she sort of fell out of the sky into his world, his whole world has been rocked,” Heughan says. “As we begin to discover in the second part of the season, he’s got a lot more chinks in his armor. He’s not actually as perfect as we think he is. He has pride, and is stubborn, and has a lot of relationships he’s not dealt with yet. His sister, and his father, and I think also … we just begin to learn a lot more about who he is.”

So what is Heughan like offscreen and what is his relationship like with his dazzling costar Balfe? Of course, being the gentleman that he is, he can only professes his complete adoration toward the talented actress. “She’s just a lovely human being,” he says. “She’s a lot of fun. We hang out when we’re there, and we hang out when we’re in Los Angeles, as well. We went on a hike a few weeks ago. Yeah, it’s great. I’m very lucky. She’s a friend.”

While Heughan enjoyed the break after filming all of Season 1 last year, he was anxious to get back to work on the second season. “There’s a sort of normality to it, the craziness,” he says. “When we finished [Season 1], I was done. I really needed to sort of decompress, and it took me a while. It took me up until Christmas really. Then over the Christmas break, I’m like, ‘you know, I’m now ready.’ I feel recharged and excited about what’s going to happen in Season 2. I think it’s going to be fun.”

Well, we can barely wait for the rest of Season 1 let alone Season 2 of

Outlander photos Credit: Starz/© 2014 Sony Pictures Television Inc. 

This entry was posted in Interview, Preview and tagged Starz. Bookmark the permalink.

First of all I would like to thank Channel Guide for such a good article and Sam Heughan taking time to tell us what is to come in the second part of season 1. With all that has happened here before long the articles will not have a comment. We can not have a good and clean exchange of ideas without some one making remarks. We are fans of the book and show and love to hear what is coming up on the show. Sam and Cait play the parts so well that they are easy to follow from afar and quietly. As you can see here before long they will not post anything public and do not blame them until this issue can be resolved. There chemistry on and off the show is well documented and any one with an eye can see what may be happening. Even Starz themselves remark. Again thanks again for such a good article and lets hope there are more to come.

Get a life they have one and it’s personal. Just enjoy the books and show.

I am sure, reading the interview above, this wasn’t Sam’s answer when Barb Oates made the question on it about his personal life. Did you read it by the way?

As others said, I would like Sam & Cait to be a couple too. Posts showed that he was dating Cody in October and went to Mexico with her during Thanksgiving. Then they were taken down when fans got upset.

My My hope you are not using my name to post these remarks. I posted earlier with this name. Try another approach. I do not believe these lies so I can tell you a mile away. I am changing my name because I believe these two have something special and enjoy the show. You are not going to ruin it for me.

Seriously people fan rights should extend to the glorious quality of work Sam and Cait are doing translating our beloved characters, their gracious treatment of the fans and continued dedication to the Outlander Series. Consider the meaning of the word Private. There is a reason it is called private life. As for Sam’s prior acting roles, many actors take roles that may or may not reflect their personal sexual preferences, particularly in the beginning of their careers. An actor’s real life story should not hinder our respect for their talent and humanity.

Uh where’s the Tobias love? I ship Tobicait dangit, I Ship them hard!

Sorry to say dear, but your ship has sunk even before it sail.

You people are too funny! You do realize that despite any comments made here that only they know the true state of their relationship. Until they confirm or deny all of this is unsubstantiated conjecture. And honestly do they waste their time speculating about us?

Sure they do! Sam even gave his precious time following some fans in Twitter and by this he had to talk to them by DMs a whole month not bothering in doing this! So of course they care for what their fans are thinking and saying!

I agree with you Mary and we both know Sam and Cait adore each other and have something very special. Their love is much more important and bigger than all the hate this mean person has on her heart. Keep this in mind and let her talk to herself.

Oh Sam. You’re adorable. Your enthusiasm and kindness and genuine love for people shines through in everything you do. You are definitely a gentleman and an amazingly talented actor. I adore Caitriona too and I have only seen her from afar as a fan. I can only imagine the shenanigans you two get up to in your Scotland bubble. Keep shining

Sorry but Sam is a former gay porno actor. Check out his work history on the internet. He was a well known porno star in the UK. That is probably what helped him land the role. Not just his looks but his love scene acting. In one clip he is making love to a man on stage while another story line is talking about British conservative values. He is an actor! What they do in private does not have to be what they are in the parts they play. But yes, he is most definitely gay. His bio from a decade ago states that.

OMG! This is so offensive, so full of prejudices and lies! Wait a minute! One more fake name OL25? Like someone said already, we, real fans, smell you from miles!

No, Sam is NOT gay. There is a lot of info on the web to support he is straight, including Diana Gabaldon firmly stating he is not gay based on her personal knowledge of him. You confuse “pornography” with a theater piece and a made for TV movie where he played gay roles with limited nudity (NOT pornography). Do you think that the OL casting director was looking to cast a male porn star for the role of one of the most romantic fictional characters of all time? Don’t be ridiculous! That would have been a PR disaster! Bio information from 10 years ago was gossip (probably based on conjecture/ wishful thinking from those who saw clips of the play/ TV movie). Sam himself has not ever stated that he is gay and he has certainly dated enough women (there is a lot of info about that on the web if you look). That does not mean he could not be bisexual or otherwise fluid in his sexuality but he is clearly into women (and whiskey, rugby, hiking, climbing, and poor fashion choices–in short, he seems to be very much a straight guy). And Mary, regardless of what you think of OL25, she has been one of the strongest defenders of his being straight–I sincerely doubt she would post what Abi wrote. Finally, I just think all the fans need to take a breath and a step back. We love the way these actors portray Jamie and Claire but EVERYTHING we know about their personal lives is merely based on rumor or our interpretation of information we read on the Internet. We don’t know them personally. Let’s just hope they are both happy in their personal lives whether or not they are dating each other or dating other people. They bring us joy with their performances, let’s with them joy in their lives!

MFT, I agree with many things you said and if Abi isn’t OL25 it’s even more sad, because it’s a sign that more people are saying this kind of lies about Sam on internet. Bur to call OL25 a “defender” when talking about Sam is a huge mistake. She already said so many bad things about him, his personality, his intelligence level on her page that even if she cleared up this mistake about his sexuality doesn’t take her the position of being an internet bully. She isn’t a fan and she doesn’t want his happiness. She hunt people who don’t buy her lies and it’s very sad to have her around this fandom. Anyway, I already lost much of my time talking about her, I hope you already saw all these things about her and that all the real fans did this too.

Mary, I did not mean to imply that I agree with everything OL25 says (I certainly do not)–I just didn’t think she should be accused of stating an opinion that she has clearly not espoused in the past or of impersonating someone who holds such an opinion. I’m in the field of social science and I’m very new to fandom. In the past few weeks I’ve visited both the “shipper” and “anti-shipper” sites (I didn’t even know what those words meant a few weeks ago) & I am saddened by what I see on both sides. (I’m not on either side–just a fan.) I have observed that both sides say terrible things about each other & both say both positive and negative things about S & C depending on whether they have been pleased or affronted by something they allegedly did. I just wish fans on both sides could stop being so defensive and attacking. Clearly people are being hurt by all this (& I hope you have not been personally hurt Mary). Again, everyone in fandom is basing their opinions on things other people tell them or on how they interpret tweets & pictures. It is like the story of the blind men and the elephant–we may all have glimpses of the “truth” but we each do not know the whole “truth” and what we think we know might easily be a distortion. Usually, when people have very extreme opinions of the same phenomenon, the truth is somewhere in between. It would be great if fans could soften the certainty of their remarks with qualifiers like (“it seems like” or “perhaps”). I wish that fans would stop fighting about which part of the “elephant” they see and take all of this with a grain of salt. Fandom should be fun not hurtful. (Sorry, I’m used to lecturing graduate students–it’s easy for me to go into lecture mode.) Peace.

Sam and Cait appear to have a genuine respect and enjoyment of each other. I can never thank them enough for bringing Claire and Jamie to life on screen so

brilliantly. The least we can do as fans in appreciation and respect for their private

lives is not take the low road of “shipping”them to suit our fancy!

Ok, people, I’m about to rock your world, and prob not in a good way. Has anyone considered the possibility that Sam is gay? That would explain the chemistry and hugging sans romantic attachment. And his lack of attachment (and lack of history) with another woman. (Now stand back for the flood of anger and invective in response!)

Do I believe there’s something more going on? Yes. No. Maybe. Have any of you been on an extended shoot with actors or spent time in theater? (Have any of you spent extended time with actors at all? That in itself would explain a lot.) Do relationships spark up? Yup. Do they last? Sometimes. Sometimes only til the next shoot. Honestly, I hope they’re not involved as this series stands a good chance of going strong for some years (maybe the full 9) and actor-actress relationships don’t have a good history of lasting long. Especially when under the pressure of spending 16 hour days, 7 days a week, for a few months at a time together.

Lots of thoughts you’ve considered, samantha gibbous. Yes. I have a lot of experience around actors. I did high school musicals with Adam Sco tt. Anyway, speculate away. Everyone has opinions. I like to go with what I see and read and I take these two actors (Sam and Cait) as genuine, nice, real people. And what I see is lovely. Lovely words from Sam about Caitriona here. Lovely praise and genuine, real affection and trust and respect and admiration. It’s beautiful. Love is all you need.

Sam is definitely not gay, and it never ceases to amaze me that people make these assumptions with absolutely no evidence. Diana Gabaldon, who would have better knowledge of the actors private life, has stated that he isn’t gay. It really wouldn’t matter if he was.

The fact is that both Sam and Caitriona keep their respective private lives out of the public eye. I think they should be respected for that, instead of being subjected to idle and groundless speculation.

It’s clear that they both have a strong friendship and a lot of affection for one another. We should be thankful for the wonderful chemistry between them that enables the relationship between C & J to come to life on the screen.

I like and respect what you are saying here. Myself, I don’t care if anyone is gay & playing a hetero role. Acting is foremost an artistic, creative craft. I do feel sorry for the actors in terms of strangers projecting and crossing all kinds of boundaries into their personal lives. Imagine if you are them, if you can. I do think Cait & Sam have a special friendship, which is to be admired & celebrated. Beyond that, they have their personal lives which they are entitled to keep private, as many of us would wish ourselves.

Well said Charm! and even if the above speculation happened to be true, what difference would that make to what we get to see on screen?! Sam happens to be discreet about his private life and rightly so. He has probably noticed how rabid fans can get and certainly they are completely disrespectful towards his friends who happen to be female. Why would anyone want to subject a partner to that sort of treatment?! Sam and Caitriona are perfect exactly the way they are.

Agree. No need to say anything more apart from ‘boundaries’ people.

He had a girlfriend in LA over the break. There are picture of them together at a Halloween party and on a trip together to Mexico over Thanksgiving. I used to wonder if he was gay, but it’s perfectly clear now, he’s not.

Please go away with your lies, Jeena OL25! You don’t full us anymore with all your fake accounts and fake “reliable sources”! Go, go, go!

I’m not OL25, but I know who you are talking about. I don’t have big fake boobs, thanks.

Thank you! You just confirmed what I said above.

Love the chemestry, have not seen that in actors since The Thornbirds, I am addicted, cant wait until it begins again

You do all know that Cait has a boyfriend and it’s not Sam right?

Another account, We can spot you a mile away, soon hopefully all will now who you are. We know your lies.

Wow that would really suck for the guy, Cait hanging out with Sam in Los Angeles when she could be with “him” instead.

But Cait lives in LA. How is she going to be with her bf over the entire break when he lives in London? I’m sure she wanted to go home and see her friends and her cat.

I haven’t seen chemistry like this since my fave soap couple in the 80s, who were a couple in real life. Whatever these two are or aren’t doing in their private life, I don’t care, as long as they keep making this magic on screen, ye ken?

Can’t wait for the rest of S1, love these two together. Their chemistry is undeniable and it’s wonderful that they are such good friends. Time will tell if it is more!!

No, she has a boyfriend who lives in London and he was dating Cody Kennedy back in the fall.

Another fake account OL25? Go back to twitter and your Minions please! The inventions of your crazy mind don’t need to be read in all pages over internet, please keep yourself there and all your lies to the poor minds that believe on them. Well, this if you still have people following you. I hope not. Sam and Cait are nice people and don’t deserve a disgusting person like you going after them and their fans.

I want them to be a couple just as much as the next person, but we all must realize they are actors being paid to look like they are in love with each other. Whenever they are representing Outlander in public, they are on the job; so, yes they should look like they like each other. As for the behind the scenes affection, I’m sure it’s much easier to maintain the chemistry if they stay in character during the breaks. Being so close all the time I’m sure it’s hard not to like each other, but for us to say they are in love I think is premature. I think we should enjoy their performances and leave the rest to them. But of course, time will tell.

I think Sam and Cait love each other…..as close friends do. But I don’t believe they are “in love.” Big difference.

No, it’s not a big difference. Lovers and married people need to be friends at first place. Sam and Cait story is unique, how they met, became friends, their instantaneous chemistry and feelings for each other, their flawless portrait of one of the most beautiful love stories from literature. This kind of thing doesn’t happen two times in life. Everything they have goes far beyond the screens and surely Sam is a luck guy as so is Cait. I hope their relationship last forever and that Sam will be brave enough to ask her to marry him and have pretty babies with her! They are perfect for each other on screens and in real life!

Um, but you don’t really know anything about these people, do you? Other than what you see played out in the media. A pair of very attractive, talented actors who sure do have great chemistry and a great friendship. Nothing fake at all about it and hey, it is super fun to watch but it doesn’t automatically mean they are a couple. Seems kinda weird for people go on about them getting married and having babies when they have yet to even confirm if they are dating. He specifically referred to her as his “friend”-so why not just say so already if there’s something more?

Well, Linda, I probably don’t know “everything” about them but anybody who pays the minimum of the attention to them and what they do can see what is happening. He said she is a friend, not “just a friend” and certainly great part of love stories starts and continues with friendship, and after all he doesn’t have to say anything more, why he should?And also I follow them since they were started on the show and if you don’t know already, Sam himself favored a tweet few months ago saying he and Cait would have “pretty babies” if they want, so I am certain that he likes the idea, maybe it even passes on his mind from time to time, and probably on Cait’s too. So I am not creating anything. I am just a good observer of what they are having out of screens.

And you are the psychotic OL25 trying to hide yourself behind another fake account. You don’t fool us anymore, dear. Keep going! I am sure Sam and Cait laugh so much as we do over your crazy theories. But is also so sad our fandom has someone like you between us.

Ohmygoodness. I just couldnt’ imagine a life like that. Hey “babe” let’s pretend we like each other when the cameras are on us. And, “hon”, let’s practice liking each other in private so we can pull it off in public. But none of it’s real. Seriously? hahahahahaha

I’m laughing so hard every time someone calls me OL25. I am not her, she blocked me actually. There are actual people besides the troll who realize that Sam and Cait are just friends and have other people in their lives in romantic ways.

Yeah, you realized all of this by yourself OL25. All inside your crazy mind. How sad and pathetic you are!

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