Outlander interview: David Berry, Charles Vandervaart on season 7
As so many of you know, there is a deep secret at the heart of who William is, as he is Jamie Fraser’s biological son. Will he learn the truth on that this season? That remains to be seen, but we were thrilled to speak with both Charles and David Berry (Lord John Grey) as a part of the season 7 press day this week.
Matt & Jess – Charles, you were thrust into this massive world, and you are also playing a character who has been around and also one secretly linked to Jamie Fraser. You are being thrown into 800 different things at once — how fast were you able to adjust to this?
Vandervaart – William is a very complicated character, isn’t he? And he’s still got a lot of growing to do. It was very nerve-wrecking jumping into this right off the bat. I got the call from my agent that I got the part, and then I was in Scotland the next day, basically.
But, I got a great bunch of people around me, a great family — they made it really easy for me.
And David, you’ve made this big adjustment now to working with this older William. What was that adjustment like?
Berry – Charles was thrown into the deep end. It was a really long casting process, looking for the right William. It took a long time, but I guess they knew what they were doing (laughs). We’ve had a few previous iterations of William before, so I was really excited to meet Charles. We met on our first filming day! He was thrown into his costume and then on set. It was honestly really great to opposite Charles and a different dynamic to my character — I got to really play into that father / son relationship.
As the season goes on and progresses, we’ll see more of that relationship develop.
Charles, what are some of the motives that your character has when he first turns up?
Vandervaart – I think he wants to serve King and Country. He’s really eager to do his duty and due diligence. That’s a little big misguided, I think — he doesn’t really understand what that means. He was really sheltered in England and lived a life of pretty intense privilege. Now, he’s about to go to war and experience tremendous loss. I think that’s going to hit him really hard, and he’s going to learn a lot about how the world actually works this season.
Related – Is there still any hope for a Lord John spin-off following Outlander season 7?
What do you most want to see for Lord John and William moving into Outlander season 7?
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(Photo: Starz.)