‘Outlander’ season 3: Sam Heughan teases Jamie’s search for purpose
The bad news when it comes to “Outlander” is merely that there is such a substantial wait in between now and when the series inevitably returns, most likely in the spring. There are already discussions aplenty out there about possible premiere dates, including one that was done on this very site.
With that in mind, the following tease from Sam Heughan to PopSugar should serve as a particular strong opportunity to see his take on where Jamie Fraser is picking things up going into the new batch of episodes. The landscape is different, feelings are rampant and emotionally-charged, and he needs to figure out what he wants to fight for in the wake of surviving Culloden and being without his love Claire:
“In book three, Jamie is many characters. He’s at least three, maybe four different things to people. He has different names, and basically he doesn’t want to be Jamie Fraser. He wants to die at the end of season two, and he goes into battle thinking he will. To live is not part of the plan, and certainly without Claire, it’s even more so not what he was expecting. He has to learn to fight again, and find purpose in his life. Aging became not about giving him a walking stick and gray hair. It became more about the experiences that he’s lived, and how that changes him. I think he is, at times, unrecognizable. Sometimes we see the Jamie we know, but it will be a journey for him to get back to being James Fraser.”
It’s an interesting and refreshing take to hear, given that for many the presumption was that Future Jamie would automatically equate to Heughan sporting hair dye and makeup. Certainly, there will be physical things done in order to age the character further, but in the end this may be more about the emotional process, and figuring out how to transfer the hurt of this character’s heart into his eyes and his words.
For additional news on “Outlander,” take a look at our archive; we’ll have more from filming as the news is announced. (Photo: Starz.)