John Bell almost ready to give up on acting before Outlander

John Bell stole our hearts the minute he stepped into the role of Young Ian in Outlander Season 3. There is nobody we could imagine in that role now.

Over the years, we’ve watched both character and actor grow up. It’s been both an honor and a privilege as fans of the series to experience this, but it almost didn’t happen.

Had Bell not landed the role he did, he may not appear on our screens at all now. Irish Times talks about how he told Flip Your Wig that he was close to quitting acting before landing this role.

John Bell has been acting since he was eight

If you’ve watched Doctor Who, then you will have seen one of Bell’s earliest roles. He played a young boy who was excited to go to a new planet, which was supposed to be Utopia. Ten and Martha learn that Utopia wasn’t quite what everyone expected, and there is a bittersweetness to it.

Bell shared that he had been acting since he was eight. While he had landed a few great roles in his younger years, it came to the point where he had to transition from child actor to adult actor, and not everyone can do this. Bell wasn’t landing the roles he wanted, and so he had a choice to make.

Did he keep on acting, or did he pursue another path? At around 16 or 17, he started to look at university, and that could have been the path he took, had it not been for a certain role.

"But there was a moment in my career when I was about 16,17, when you're trying to make that transition from a child to an adult actor, that I wasn't getting any work."

Outlander came just in the nick of time

Bell was actually just two weeks away from starting university when Outlander “came knocking.” He shared how he was offered the chance to audition, and then he landed the role. Again, we’re not surprised because we can’t imagine anyone other than Bell playing this role now.

"I was ready to go to university and do something else so Outlander came about two, three weeks before I was supposed to start university and I got the audition and I got it."

While Outlander is coming to an end, the growth that Bell has had in this role is sure to help set him up for the future. He’s even landed a role in the upcoming production The Man in the Box, which will star After star Hero Fiennes Tiffin.

Thank you, Outlander!