On ‘Outlander’ and the celebration of Sophie Skelton’s casting

Brianna -

Here’s one of the great things that come with writing about a show like “Outlander” — you have a fan following that keeps you aware of milestones, and also celebrates them with great aplomb.

As some out there know, today marks the one-year anniversary of Sophie Skelton being announced as playing Brianna moving forward on the Starz drama (see her tweet below for evidence). To anyone who’s read the Diana Gabaldon books, this is an enormous deal. She’s one of the series’ most-important characters, and she has relationships that tie to everyone from (of course) her mother Claire (Caitriona Balfe) to Roger Wakefield (Richard Rankin), another all-important character who was cast early last year.

Many of you may know this from reading our recent piece about must-watch episodes for new and old fans alike, but the season 2 finale entitled “Dragonfly in Amber” is our favorite episode of the series. Skelton and Rankin’s arrivals are a key part of that. They helped to bring such a fascinating past-meets-present energy to the drama, and give Claire such interesting foils as she started to uncover that Jamie may not have died in the Battle of Culloden as she once believed. This offered her the chance to go back through the stones, and start her story anew for season 3. Without the support of Bree along the journey, would this have happened? Everything in this episode worked — it was emotional, it was heartfelt, and the story almost stood on its own separate from anything else on the show.

After this episode, we’ve obviously got high hopes for Bree and Roger moving into the coming seasons, but you could say the same thing everyone else in the cast — it’s what happens when you produce quality. We do still imagine that the story will be somewhat of a slow burn, given that it’s not as though Brianna becomes immersed in the lives of every one of the characters right away. Still, understanding her story more, even when it is told from the perspective of other characters, should allow for more opportunities to understand what Claire went through from leaving Jamie in Scotland to when she was able to return.

Alas, there is still no official word on a season 3 premiere date, but once we start to hear those whispers, we will of course pass that information along to you.

For now, be sure to let us know in the comments if there is anything that you’re excited to see from Skelton’s Brianna as we move ahead! (Photo: Starz.)

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