Outlander season 5: Will Ed Speleers return as Stephen Bonnet?

If you look into the annals of Outlander lore, you can easily label Stephen Bonnet and also Black Jack Randall as the show’s most notorious villains. In the case of Black Jack, it’s hard to bring that guy back from the dead. As for Bonnet, meanwhile, his fate is a little more uncertain. (Warning: Book spoilers ahead.)

We know from within the Diana Gabaldon book series that Bonnet does come back during The Fiery Cross. Because of that, the clear assumption is that eventually, this guy works his way back into the show. The question is mostly when. (If you want to make a case for the show leaving Bonnet as seemingly dead, remember Game of Thrones and their stance on Lady Stoneheart. We don’t think that Bonnet is being Stonehearted, if that is a verb, but you gotta consider it.)

For the time being, what’s interested is that even Ed Speleers himself seems unsure as to his future. Speaking via the Express, the actor could not confirm anything when it comes to the future of his character:

I’d like to come back, I haven’t heard anything yet, I mean with any of these big series there’s always the possibility of him coming back … But yeah, it’s a lovely group of people to work with, and on a purely selfish level, he is a great character to play, so I’d want to come back.

It’s always going to be a weird conversation in regards to whether or not Bonnet comes back. Think of it this way — he’s a horrendous human being. There is not a single thing about him personally that makes him the sort of guy you’d want to be around. He’s the center of the most traumatic moment of Brianna’s life! Yet, he’s also the sort of villain who generates conversation. We don’t want to see him again (we’re never going to root for Bonnet), but we know that there are iconic book scenes featuring this character that the show may want to replicate.

Given that Outlander is still in the early days of production, there’s still plenty of time to throw the Bonnet character into some sort of story scrum. It comes down to finding the right time and place to make it happen. Speleers was unquestionably brilliant in the part; he made you loathe this man, which is of course the point. Playing a villain like this is a tremendous acting challenge, mostly because you have to dive into a moral abyss and alter your entire way of thinking.

Outlander most likely will return with season 5 in early 2020. We’ll have a chance to see whether or not Bonnet is a part of it potentially during its run.

What do you most want to see moving into Outlander season 5? Be sure to share in the comments.

Photo: Starz