Who is Janet MacKenzie in Outlander: Blood of My Blood?

The Outlander: Blood of My Blood cast continues to grow. A new character added to the 18th century storyline is Janet MacKenzie.

Janet MacKenzie is one of the MacKenzie siblings. There were five to make it to adulthood, and Janet is one of two we haven’t officially met yet. The other one is Ellen, although we know plenty about her through the words of Jamie and Jenny.

Of course, fans want to know more about the various characters in the prequel series. Here’s what we know about Janet MacKenzie so far.

Jenny Fraser Murray is named after Janet MacKenzie

Jenny isn’t short for Jennifer in Outlander. Instead, it’s a nickname for Janet, as Jenny Fraser Murray is named after Janet MacKenzie. This will give you an idea as to how important Janet was to Ellen and Brian.

Janet was the second daughter of Jacob MacKenzie. She was the fourth child with Ellen being the eldest of the siblings and then Colum and Dougal following.

There are debates over who Janet married. While some family trees show that she married a man called Ambrose MacKenzie, the Outlandish Companion Vol. 2 shows that she married a man named Alexander Hay of Crimond.

What happens to Janet after Outlander: Blood of My Blood?

It’s not clear what the ages of the characters are in the Outlander prequel. All we know by the time Outlander airs is that Janet has already died.

The Companion tells us that she died at the age of 24 of a fever. She and Alexander had no children.

Outlander: Blood of My Blood offers us the chance to see how this storyline plays out. It is possible that Janet and Ellen were close as the eldest two girls of six (yes, six, but one died in infancy) children. She may have died just before or around the time Ellen was pregnant with Jenny, which is why this child was named after her and not Ellen’s mother, Anne Grant.

Janet will be played by Ailsa Davidson. It is worth noting that while there is another sibling mentioned who died in infancy, Janet is noted as the “final” MacKenzie sibling in the press release for this casting. This could just mean the final sibling to be part of the story, or we could see that the sixth isn’t even mentioned.