Jamie and Claire’s adventures in North Carolina, mixed with their time-travelling daughter Brianna and her modern-day love Roger, make up the arc of Outlander‘s fourth season.
But 13 episodes were not enough to contain some lighter moments, so TV WEEK asked series co-executive producer Toni Graphia to give us a breakdown of the additional stories featured in the Outlander Untold series on the season four DVD, a perfect way for us to survive “Droughtlander” while waiting for season five!
“Sometimes our episodes are so jam-packed, that we don’t have room for these side roads if they aren’t crucial to the main story arc,” Toni explains. “So when we were looking for Untold stories, one of the first we thought of was… wouldn’t it be great to see that scene, of Ian winning Rollo? It’s a perfect example of an Untold because who doesn’t want to see that scene? We all did!”
Did the cast have a blast filming these extra bits? “Yes, I think they had fun with it,” Toni says. “It was just something a little different and special that highlighted their characters, so I think they enjoyed it.”
Look for Jamie himself (er, Sam Heughan) to introduce some segments, too.
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Time travellers Claire and Jamie continue their epic journey. (Image: Foxtel.)
Ian Wins Rollo
Toni: Everyone loves Rollo! We got him as a puppy and raised him, having him spend a lot of time with John Bell who plays Young Ian, so that they could bond. And they are true pals.
In the book, Young Ian appears and tells Jamie (Sam Heughan) that he won Rollo “dicing with sailors.” So we had to come up with a way to show the danger of Ian doing something that Jamie clearly didn’t approve of, but how Ian used his smarts to wrangle this dog from the ruffians during their gambling.
Murtagh and Marsali
Toni: Another fun thing about the Untolds is that we can mix and match characters who might not have interactions with each other during the course of the main stories. When we were trying to think of interesting pairings, one of the first that came to mind was Murtagh (Duncan Lacroix) and Marsali (Lauren Lyle). They’re cut from the same cloth, both a bit fiery and known to speak their minds.
In the book there’s a bit we didn’t get to use about Fergus (César Domboy) getting into some legal trouble because he hit someone, but it turned out to be Marsali who packed the punch. That was re-imagined into this Untold story, but told through the circumstances of Murtagh staying at their home and having the somewhat annoying houseguest become Marsali’s defender – yet being impressed that this lass is very capable of defending herself. Thus a new found respect and friendship develops between Marsali and her “grandsire.”
The couple must navigate pre-Revolution North Carolina. (Image: Foxtel.)
Lord John Grey
Toni: The John Grey/Willie scene is a favorite of ours, directed by Matt Roberts. This one is an example of a “prequel” scene, where we imagined what would have happened in the moments before the episode began. John (David Berry) must explain to his grief-stricken son why it’s so important to visit Jamie Fraser in the wake of the child’s mother’s death. We loved seeing a vulnerable John Grey trying to justify this to Willie (Finn Den Hertog), while uncovering his own feelings at the same time. The scene turned out so well, it was suggested that we actually add it to the head of the episode – but there wasn’t room. And this is exactly why we have the Untolds!
Tea For Two
Toni: The Tea for Two scene was another pairing that we thought would be interesting. Phaedre (Natalie Simpson) and Lizzie (Caitlyn O’Ryan) were always a bit competitive over their attentions to Brianna (Sophie Skelton). This gives us some insight over how things work at River Run and was also a nice moment to show how Jocasta imparts some small wisdom to these two young women. This is also directed by Matt Roberts.
Outlander Season 4 is available now on DVD and Blu-Ray.
