‘Outlander: Blood of My Blood’ Aftershow: Stars on Brian & Ellen’s Forbidden Love, Julia & Henry’s Time Travel (VIDEO)

[Warning: The below and video above contain MAJOR spoilers for Outlander: Blood of My Blood, Season 1 Episodes 1 & 2, “Providence,” and “S.W.A.K. (Sealed With a Kiss).”]

Outlander: Blood of My Blood has finally arrived, and it’s delivering all of the yearning a romance fan could desire as it offers a glimpse into the intersecting paths of Claire’s (Caitriona Balfe) and Jamie’s (Sam Heughan) parents: Julia (Hermione Corfield) and Henry (Jeremy Irvine), and Brian (Jamie Roy) and Ellen (Harriet Slater).

Starz debuted two episodes in celebration of the premiere, offering a peek into the beginning of both romances, which start at two different times, with Brian and Ellen finding a spark in 18th-century Scotland, and Julia and Henry connecting amid World War I in England. But the road to romance isn’t so easy as the show kicks off with Red Jacob MacKenzie’s (Peter Mullan) death, leaving Clan MacKenzie leaderless.

While Ellen would be the first in line for his seat, her gender removes that opportunity, leaving brothers Dougal (Sam Retford) and Colum (Séamus McLean Ross) to battle it out, while also working to gain the support of surrounding clans. As a way to garner support, the family has a gathering, which Clan Fraser’s son, Brian, attends at the behest of his cousin Murtagh (Rory Alexander).

When Brian has a brief run-in with a clansman, he worries about his Fraser identity being revealed, and so he takes refuge in a stable, only to encounter Ellen, who has been avoiding suitors left and right. But unlike the men she met in the lead up to Brian, Ellen doesn’t turn away from him, instead finding herself entranced by the mystery man. After he invites her to meet him somewhere more private, she agrees, but her exit from the gathering sparks suspicion from potential suitor Malcolm Grant (John Lumsden), who decides to leave after he realizes she lied about being ill to escape the event herself.

Ellen goes to meet Brian at a nearby bridge, and the pair hold hands as they reveal their names and realize they’re from enemy clans. Meanwhile, Ellen is unaware that her brothers believe her to be with Malcolm, and so Dougal sets off to attack him, only to realize he’s stirred up some serious drama.

In order to remedy the wrong, Colum plans to promise Ellen to Malcolm, leaving her powerless, despite her late father’s promise that she could choose who she married. So, while Ellen mourns the loss of her father, she is also mourning the future she thought she’d have. “I think they had a really interesting relationship,” Slater reveals of Ellen and Red Jacob’s father-daughter dynamic in our inaugural Outlander: Blood of My Blood Aftershow. “They were very close… He kind of trusted her as an advisor a little bit.”

Without Red Jacob’s support, though, Ellen has lost that sense of security. “He promised her that she wouldn’t have to marry for the sake of the clan. And now she has no guarantee that that will still be the case,” Slater points out.

As the first episode unfolds, viewers are also clued into the fact that Julia and Henry are already occupying the 18th century, as she finds herself working at Brian’s home, Castle Leathers, and Henry has been adopted by Clan Grant, working as a lawyer, akin to Clan MacKenzie’s Ned Gowan (Conor MacNeill).

The first episode’s final moments reveal the fateful car crash Claire believes killed her parents, but we quickly discover that Henry and Julia were swept down the river and wandered into the standing stones at Craigh Na Dun, which is where the spouses are separated. When it came to the time-traveling twist, “I don’t think the role would have been big enough if we’d died in the car crash,” Irvine says, adding, “I read it and just thought that was a lot that we can all get our teeth into.”

Corfield adds, “It’s so funny because I chemistry read with Jeremy, but I did most of the season with [Jamie],” as Julia remains at Castle Leathers for the time being, with the threat of Brian’s father, Lord Lovat (Tony Curran), looming over her. The man people met as Jamie’s grandfather in Outlander is notoriously handsy with his staff, and Henry finds his own element of danger in the second episode as we learn how he became a part of Clan Grant, taking on duties as a lawyer and solicitor.

The second episode explores the couple’s early romance, which begins when Julia is working in the redaction office and comes across a letter from Henry, who was on the front lines in WWI. Their correspondence quickly takes a romantic turn as they lean on each other emotionally through the hard times, and when they connect in person, the chemistry is palpable, leading to a fast marriage.

And as Julia and Henry find themselves separated in a different time, they lean on their letter writing to get them through. Corfield and Irvine tease how that element will continue to be incorporated, as Slater and Roy offer more on what makes Ellen and Brian’s romance one worth fighting for in the full aftershow, which takes a deep dive into the episodes above.

What did you think of the Outlander: Blood of My Blood two-episode series premiere? Let us know in the comments section below, and stay tuned for more as the season unfolds.

Outlander: Blood of My Blood, Season 1, Fridays, 8/7c, Starz