Outlander season 4 character questions: Who is Gayle? Discussing Simona Brown’s character
Ultimately, there is a fairly good reason for this in that the Gayle character is not a particularly notable one in the book Drums of Autumn, at least in that she doesn’t make too many appearances. She’s best known for a scene at the airport where she is very much fascinated with Roger’s accent.
Within the context of the show, what we know about the character is that she is Brianna’s best friend and college roommate. Is it possible that she will have a slightly larger role in the series than the books? We wouldn’t be surprised.
Season 4 is set to be, by far, the biggest one for Sophie Skelton as Brianna yet. We need to see her story play out that eventually leads to heading back to the past to find her parents. Before she makes that move, the show may feel the need to feature some conversations (minus potentially the time-traveling part) between her and a few different characters. There’s less room for introspection in a TV format, so seeing more actual conversations could prove valuable. Gayle could be a good person to have some of those conversations with Bree, just as Joe Abernathy did with Claire during season 3. There are some narrative reasons to give Gayle a larger presence as a sounding board and key part of Bree’s inner circle. (We know that Joe also fills this role for Brianna at times in the books.)
Often, there are characters on the show that end up having a larger role than the books, and there are also characters whose stories are mixed with others. You can certainly use Murtagh as an example of the former, and possibly even the latter if he ends up becoming the show version of Duncan Innes. Gayle could be another example.
Really, there is only one big character question that matters for Gayle more than any other: How will the writers use her? It’s an interesting piece that they have on the chessboard, and that is something we’re interested in finding out more about. We know that Brown has some great TV credits that would merit a meaty role here, in between The Night Manager and The Casual Vacancy. No matter what production decides, though, it’s likely she’ll only be in the first part of season 4 — we doubt that Gayle is suddenly going to become a time-traveler!
Related – Check out more character questions pieces all about Gerald Forbes and Lizzie Wemyss
How do you think Gayle could be used on Outlander season 4? Share right now in the comments!
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