[Editor’s note: The following interview contains spoilers for the series finale of “Outlander.”]
Caitríona Balfe and Sam Heughan have played Claire and Jamie Fraser for over a decade of their lives. The two got emotional as they sat down with IndieWire to break down the series’ finale and bid their show a final farewell.
Jamie and Claire’s love story resonated across space, time, books, and television. Their story will go down in history as one of the television’s greatest love stories. Balfe and Heughan opened up about how surprisingly emotional they feel about their show ending. They also dive into what they both think of that finale, and what future possibilities it leaves for them to perhaps one day, revisit their iconic roles.
Balfe (whose interview you can see in the video above) also talks about the three episodes that changed her as an actress in the show. And she confesses that Heughan (whose interview you can see below) helped get her through the biggest scene in the finale, when Jamie dies in Claire’s arms.
This season marked Balfe’s debut as a director, making her a triple threat. What people might not know is that part of the finale was also directed by Balfe. The easter egg, a post-credits scene with author Diana Gabaldon was directed by Balfe herself.
She lit up when asked about it. “Everyone in that scene has been on ‘Outlander’ since day one. They are part of the fabric of our show. They are the reason that it is what it is,” she said. “They imbue it with their heart and soul every day.”
Balfe realized something when she re-watched the scene. “My new theory is that Diana (Gabaldon) is Claire, her husband Doug is Jamie, and she is living in plain sight as a time-traveler, because she doesn’t age! Diana Gabaldon has lived all of Claire’s life and somehow, she figured out how to get Doug from the 18th century,” she added, alluding to the fact that unlike Claire, Jamie cannot time-travel.
Heughan and Balfe both just watched the finale for the very first time in their hotel rooms on their computers. So, what did Jamie and Claire’s counterparts think about the ending?
Balfe said, “I mean… they’re together, and that to me is the perfect thing, whatever it is, whatever they do, they’re supposed to be together.” It’s like if Jack and Rose fit on that doomed door. Balfe added, “Romeo and Juliet, Jack and Rose, Claire and Jamie.” Let’s be honest, Jamie would have given Claire the biggest door and been right next to her. Those two would never let a little piece of wood separate them. In fact, in the Season 3 finale, they had a little Jack and Rose moment that found them washed up on a beach in America.
“Outlander” ends its eight-season run before the book series will end. Heughan and executive producer Maril Davis are the only two that know Gabaldon’s ending.
So, is the television show ending and the book ending the same? Heughan said, “I can’t give anything away, but all I can say is, there is a similarity, we’re in the same world, but I don’t know how she’s going to get there. There’s a lot more to come still in her books, so we don’t know.” Balfe and Heughan also confessed they cannot wait to read Diana Gabaldon’s final and tenth “Outlander” book. They too want to know what happens to Jamie and Claire in the future.
The biggest most heart-wrenching scene is when Jamie dies in Claire’s arms. Balfe gives a performance that should undoubtedly earn her the recognition she’s so rightly deserved all throughout the series. “I had a really tough day on set, and Sam was the one who — you put all of this pressure on things and you want it to be so good, and it’s our last season, and you do all this stuff to yourself, and then you’re all wound up, and I remember Sam coming to me and like just letting me have a big ball,” she said. “He just was very reassuring, and we went back, and we finished the scene, and it was perfect, or well, you know, not perfect, but it worked.”
According to Heughan. It more than worked.
Surprisingly, Balfe’s toughest scene was quite the opposite for Heughan. “I mean, I had an easy time of it, once Jamie’s dead, I was quite happy to be dead on the mountain, my journey was over, the character was dead,” he said with a laugh. Ouch.
Heughan really is going for the gut punch. “She has this very challenging scene, a moment where she’s screaming by his body, of course Caitríona nailed it, and she’s so powerful, heart-wrenching. But I remember it was difficult for her,” he said. “Not only is it super emotional, physical, but it’s also the end and we were trying to get it right.”
Heughan revealed it was difficult to physically get on the mountain and the cast was taken up there in caterpillar-like vehicles. “I remember sitting with her and talking her, and she needed some support and comfort, but I think she absolutely nailed it,” he said. He added that he knows his co-star so well, but that the support between the two is deeply reciprocal and that she’s been able to be there when he’s gone through tough times. “It’s been so great to have her as a co-star, but also as a great friend.”
The ending of “Outlander” finds Claire and Jamie seemingly not alive, but then, in the last moment, their eyes open and they both take a breath, indicating that, once again, Claire has brought Jamie back to life. She did something similar in Season 5 in a very “handy” way.
The show has always hinted that Claire possesses some power that materializes in very white hair and a blue light. After all, she is a time-traveler, so that tracks. But did Heughan see the blue light that emanates out of Claire for a second before it looks like she too may have died in the final scene? “I didn’t see any blue light, I was dead,” Heughan said with a laugh. We get it! Jamie Fraser was dead.
Heughan said they shot the scenes where he has to lay dead in her arms for two days: “I got to lie down a lot, which was great.”
Jamie’s ghost is the ending that Heughan fought for. The very first episode of “Outlander” found a ghost looking up at Claire’s window watching her, but we don’t see who it is. Heughan really wanted that to be tied up, because “playing young Jamie was fun.” He then revealed that he played ghost Jamie in the pilot too.
At that point, he had no idea why. “That was me, and I think that may have been the first thing I ever shot. I didn’t really know what this moment was,” he said. That ghost scene bookended his filming on “Outlander,” with it being his very first filmed and then the very last. Heughan added that he loved it for Jamie and Claire: “I think he’s always going to be watching over her.” Ghost, time-travel, and a little thing like death, nothing can keep those two apart.
After they yelled, “Cut” on Heughan for the very last time, he headed right to Balfe and Sophie Skelton, who were watching his last scene. “We had this big group hug, there were a lot of tears, a lot of champagne and I walked off with Jamie’s outfit and I pulled his wig off for the last time, and stuffed it in my bag and went home with it,” he said.
For both Balfe and Heughan, the love that is at the center of their show is also what they will remember most behind the scenes. Balfe said, when she’s 80 years old, she will remember her “Outlander” family. “We have so much fun, we have so much love for each other. And it’s not just the cast, it’s our crew, I’ll just think of the people,” she said.
Heughan quickly agreed: “Caitríona’s right, it’s the cast, it’s the love. And Caitríona herself, you know sharing all these amazing moments with her is so special. I’m really lucky.”
To mark the end of the show, Balfe and Heughan will watch the finale with an audience today; they both are looking forward to it, but there will be tears. “I didn’t think I’d get emotional. I’m going to be bawling again, I didn’t think I’d get emotional during this time, and I’ve been super emotional all day, it’s been very odd,” Balfe confessed.
All episodes of all seasons of “Outlander” are now streaming on Starz.
