‘Outlander’: Caitriona Balfe & Sam Heughan Hint at Claire’s ‘Unraveling’ in Season 6
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Outlander is almost back and the Frasers are dealing with a lot, from suspicious new settlers to the fallout from last season’s attack by the Browns.
Now, Claire (Caitriona Balfe) and Jamie (Sam Heughan) are navigating new waters as they grapple with her trauma, something that will play a major role as Season 6 unfolds. As viewers will recall, when we last saw the Fraser matriarch in the fifth season, she was kidnapped and brutally attacked by Lionel Brown (Ned Dennehy) and his men.
Jamie, Ian (John Bell), Roger (Richard Rankin), and Fergus (César Domboy) all came to her rescue and eliminated the men involved — all but Lionel, who was brought back to Fraser’s Ridge, where Marsali (Lauren Lyle) put him to death with a lethal injection. But even though she is now safe at home in the sixth season, Claire’s horrors are still simmering at just below the surface.
(Credit: Starz)
“As with a lot of people who experience trauma, this is, in some ways, new ground for her,” Balfe says of her character’s experience this season. “She’s always been able to compartmentalize and move forward and not think about things. But this has really shook her to her core, and she’s unraveling in a way that she doesn’t understand.”
It’s territory that Jamie hasn’t really charted before either as Claire’s been the one to help ease his emotional (and physical) wounds, particularly in earlier seasons of the series after he was violated by Black Jack Randall (Tobias Menzies). After everything that Claire’s survived, she’s always remained strong, but Season 6 is bringing out vulnerabilities that viewers and her husband have yet to experience.
(Credit: Starz)
“She’s been through so much,” Sam Heughan says, “and I guess [Jamie] knows that she’s such a strong character and generally does move forward or find a way to cope with things. So, I think he, having been through something similar, understands and I think he’s very aware.”
Heughan notes that Jamie is “keeping an eye on [Claire], but giving her space as well to maybe work through it.” With war approaching, there’s a lot for those at Fraser’s Ridge to be distracted by and worry about, but Claire’s trauma still remains and that was important for executive producer Maril Davis to see through.
“We just felt like we had to see Claire, who has always compartmentalized everything in her life, not being able to do that that all of a sudden and how interesting that would be,” Davis says. The pressures of the incoming Revolution only serve to raise tensions and chaos. See how it impacts Claire and the rest of the Fraser clan when the Droughtlander ends on March 6.
Outlander, Season 6 Premiere, Sunday, March 6, 9/8c, Starz
