Outlander season 4 and building the best villain possible

While we wait for Outlander season 4 later this year, why not dive into a conversation all about villains? If you look back at the past three seasons, we’ve seen a wide array of nefarious adversaries who challenge our heroes in many different ways. Take, for example, the tormentor who was Black Jack Randall or the sinister Geillis Duncan.

If we were to look at some of what makes an Outlander villain fantastic, much of that really starts with motive. In order to have a fantastic villain, you really need to have a character who has a very specific reason for their actions. For Black Jack, it really seemed to be his own personal pleasure guised within a military uniform. He did what he could for the sake of the Crown but it also felt very clear that he enjoyed being terrible. He took some element of joy from what he did. With Geillis, it was more about power and survival; after everything that he had been through she wanted to be effectively untouchable, and she managed to find a way to navigate history in order to better to do that.

Whether it be in Outlander season 4 or later on down the road, the strongest adversaries on this series are the ones that you will be able to hone down on their motive. Beyond that, it helps if there is a specific way in which they can torment Claire or Jamie Fraser. We don’t love how either of these characters were treated by Geillis or Black Jack, but the history that was built up between them over time was a big part of what made their scenes so stellar. Geillis was someone who tried to delegitimize Claire on some level for choosing to use her “powers” in the way in which she did. Black Jack tried to just break Jamie as a man, whether it be physically, emotionally, or sexually. These were characters who went for psychological breakdowns with their actions; any other villain has their work cut out for them in trying to replicate this.

Is Outlander really a comic-book sort of story with cut-and-dry heroes and villains? Not so much. This is a story with far more nuance and some “villains” may not necessarily think they are that. Look at Captain Leonard last season; he thought that what he was doing was right, but we were against him because his actions were in opposition to Jamie and Claire. Therefore, we don’t think that Outlander is necessarily in the business of creating a villain that will “top” the ones that came beforehand.

Nonetheless, this is a series that has set the bar extremely high. As a non-reader we cannot really speak to some of the adversaries that are coming, but we do hope that they contain some of the qualities mentioned in this article. (Without a doubt, Black Jack and Geillis also benefited heavily from having Tobias Menzies and Lotte Verbeek in their roles.)

Related – What are the odds of Outlander making it to season 10?

If you missed it, we also suggest you check out our season 4 filming video from Friday night. If you like these Outlander videos and want to see more of them, subscribing to our YouTube channel is one of the ways you can help support us.

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