‘Blood of My Blood’s Harriet Slater on How That Shocking Death Unveils an ‘Outlander’ Origin Story

Outlander: Blood of My Blood‘s latest episode, “Rabbits Don’t Swim,” puts Ellen MacKenzie (Harriet Slater) in control as Castle Leoch comes under attack. Warning: Spoilers for Outlander: Blood of My Blood, Season 2 Episode 3!

While Dougal (Sam Retford) and Brian (Jamie Roy) were away amid the Jacobite Rising, Ellen used her wits to outsmart James MacKinney (Ryan Fletcher) and his men, who attempted to take over the MacKenzie Clan’s position. She recruited help from her sisters and sisters-in-law, as well as Mrs. Fitz (Sally Messham), to execute her plan, which played like a more violent version of Kevin McAllister’s (Macaulay Culkin) Home Alone antics.

And although Ellen outsmarted her foes, it doesn’t mean the fight was victimless for the MacKenzies, as her sister Janet (Ailsa Davidson) was stabbed, which led her to bleed out to death. While Ellen held Janet in her arms, she revealed to her dying sister that she was pregnant with Brian’s child, and should it be a girl, she’d be named after her.

Starz

It was a final secret shared between the sisters, and the origin story for a fan-favorite character from Outlander, as many recall Jamie’s (Sam Heughan) sister may be known as Jenny (Laura Donnelly) but is actually a Janet, proving that Ellen kept her word eventually as she named her daughter after her late sister in the future.

As for how the death has impacted her, Slater says, “I was so devastated when I read that in the script for the first time because Janet’s such a lovely character and we see a bit more of Ellen and Janet bond in that episode, which is really lovely and it comes out of nowhere really. I think Ailsa does such an incredible job in that scene. I also find it quite hard to watch,” Slater admits.

Looking ahead though, Slater added, “I think it does stay with Ellen; I think it just puts everything into perspective. It’s war, and the stakes really are life and death. It just makes her all the more determined to make sure that Brian comes home in one piece because she’s lost so much in her life already; she really cannot bear the thought of losing him.”

Related

'Outlander: Blood of My Blood': Harriet Slater on Ellen's Fight & Training

Regarding the pregnancy revelation, Slater calls the scene between Ellen and Janet, “a beautiful moment.” As the star points out, “Janet’s the first person that she tells, and that’s also when we, the audience, realized that she’s pregnant too, and she promises to give her her name if she’s a girl, and we know that she stays true to it.”

Whether or not the baby Ellen is currently expecting will be named Janet is easily debunked by what we know of the Fraser family history, but we know eventually Ellen honors Janet’s loss. “We know that Ellen and Brian do have a daughter that they named Jenny, so I think, I think that’s a really lovely moment that Outlander fans especially will be like, ‘Oh, it’s a nice little Easter egg.'”

If anything, the events that unfolded at Leoch only raise the stakes, as a pregnancy puts Ellen and Brian’s handfasting on a tighter clock, rebellion tensions flare, and time-traversing twists lurk around every corner. What did you think of that Outlander origin story reveal onscreen? Let us know in the comments section below, and stay tuned for more as Blood of My Blood Season 2 continues on Starz.

Outlander: Blood of My Blood, Season 2, Fridays, 8/7c, Starz