Should Outlander stage a big Lord John Grey episode in the future?
For the sake of this article, we want to focus on a character who we feel has been somewhat under-served in discussions related to the show: Lord John Grey. The relationship that he has with Jamie is one of the series’ most fascinating, mostly because there are so many layers and ways in which it can be defined. There is a love that Lord John has for Jamie, but also an understanding of where they are in life and their roles in it. For Lord John, being present around Jamie at times merits great satisfaction.
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Lord John is also rather fascinating within this story in that he almost feels like he magically turns up in the right place at the right time. He was there at Helwater, he’s been in Jamaica, and he is certainly present within Drums of Autumn — as for whether or not that translates over to many appearances in Outlander season 4 remains to be seen. While we’d be surprised to someday see an episode built mostly around this character on Outlander, we do think that there is merit in exploring this character further, including more of his backstory and where he is in between his interactions with Jamie and Claire.
To us, a perfect Lord John episode would be establishing some of his own relationships and using some of his past in order to better exemplify some of his actions in the present. He’s just such a rich, fascinating character and understanding some of his past motives is useful for understanding better precisely what happens in his present.
Do we think that we’re going to get that extended a profile on Lord John in season 4? Probably not, and mostly because Outlander is only 13 episodes. If this was a show that was doing 18-episode seasons a la This Is Us, they could probably do a couple of episodes a season where the focus was planted almost entirely around a supporting character. The more realistic option with Lord John in the long-term is probably him getting a chance to shine in his own solo spin-off show, which is certainly something that we’ve advocated for in the past. We know that David Berry would be open since there is so much material for him out there; the problem is mostly just finding a totally new creative team to work on it, since it’s really pretty hard to inundate the Outlander producers with more work when they are already going around the clock.
Do you want to see Outlander season 4 or 5 offer up a little more of an extensive spotlight on the Lord John Grey character? Share now in the attached comments!
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Cindy
August 12, 2018 @ 12:24 am
Lord John has a series of novels and novellas, which are basically criminal procedurals…. A spin-off would be brilliant.
Stephanie Brown
August 11, 2018 @ 8:18 am
Well, you do have plenty of film students who need exercise.