In a twist very few likely expected at the start of the Outlander: Blood of My Blood season 1 finale, there was a MacKenzie-Grant wedding. It just wasn’t the one that we expected.
In the end, Ellen ran away with Brian, leading to Colum having to rethink some plans. In the end, Dougal MacKenzie and Maura Grant were forced to marry, and it gave us some of the best interactions of the whole episode. Sam Retford and Bobby Rainsbury chatted with us about the way the first season ended in an exclusive interview.
ClaireandJamie.com: I love Maura and Dougal together based on this one episode. You two had some of the funniest moments in the finale. Let’s talk that bedroom scene with just how matter-of-fact Maura is.
Sam Retford: Oh yeah, that was fun, because it was so playfully written and so far from the original in the sense that you have these characters who have never fathomed being in a room together. It was really fun to approach the conversational part beforehand, and working with [Azhur Saleem], who’s just fantastic, and Vanessa [Coffey], our intimacy coordinator, just really approach this like any other day. We had the privilege of having that added characterization on top, which really made it a whole lot easier, because you had something else to focus on.
Bobby Rainsbury: I also think that pre-intimate scene, where they’re chatting, and she’s like, “Should we just get down to it?” and she’s taking her shows off and everything. I actually think that’s funny to see.
They’re so playful and so characterful, and they’ve not really got many masks. I think we played around with a lot of different versions, and I think throughout the course of the afternoon we were shooting it. Sometimes you don’t quite know where you go into scenes. You just do as much work as you possibly can.
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Sam Retford: It was quite nice, because, I think on the page instinctively, it reads as Dougal being a lot more standoffish and defensive and closed off, but I think the way it played and the way we got it was so much nicer and so lovely. You just got to finally see this human aspect to him, and it’s so nice that it’s her. It just foreshadows what we have to come in a really lovely way.
C&J: Bobby, what was it like for you to bring Maura to life? We’ve heard of her, but never seen her, even in the flagship series.
BR: She’s great! When I was reading some of the scripts, the only reference to her is that she’s a bit of a boot face, and somebody was supposed to marry her, and then she gets killed off. I think it was brilliant, because she has to be “bang” when you see her in episode 10. You have to have quite an immediate reaction to her.
That was really fun to play around with. I think she’s brilliant, and her social awkwardness, which I think you forget about, particularly with period dramas because everything is so beautifully written, but then she’s just awkward. She comes in, says a couple of things, and then just leaves. I think you forget that people like that really existed at the time.
SR: I’m sure Bobby won’t mind me saying, but I remember when we were doing the original chemistry reads for Maura, and I remember Bobby coming into the room. We were in absolute hysterics before we’d even started it, just of her conversations about the character. It was a done deal when she left the room.
C&J: Sam, I would have loved to seen a conversation between Dougal and Colum about Dougal marrying Maura! What were the conversations like between you and Seamus going into this episode knowing you’d have to play it as if there was the conversation?
SR: We definitely spoke about that. I don’t think this was something Dougal resisted. There’s kind of a beauty to not having that scene, and that was that I could decide how he took that news, and I really believe that he walked into that room, he was told, and in his head he was all about the success of the clan and the prosperity of Scotland and the preservation of the Scots’ culture.
Yes, it is a sacrifice, because it was never something he intended, but I think it’s not a terrible sacrifice. Let’s be honest; she’s a very lovely lady. I think very boringly, he just went, “Yes.” I think the only spite he would have had is that Colum told him to do it. I bet he would have wished he’d made the decision.
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C&J: And there is a benefit to Dougal now that the Grants have chosen to support the Jacobites.
SR: Yeah, I think that’s great politically. It was a long time since we filmed it.
C&J: And now you’re trying not to give season 2 spoilers away. What’s it like for Dougal now that he’s had to put the clan first, considering there’s been this constant battle between Dougal and Colum?
SR: I think he always did put the clan first. He’s often misinterpreted as a selfish, hot-headed buy with no intelligence, but his priority is entirely the clan. He just looks at it from a revolutionary perspective, while Colum is all about preservation. It’s all about survival, and it’s all about everyone’s best interests, whereas Dougal’s is about generations beyond.
The Jacobite Rising came with a loss of their culture. There was the loss of their language, and a lot of communities lost their family traditions. This was his driving force, and that’s always where the conflict between Colum and Dougal comes from.
C&J: Bobby, before I run out of time, I do want to ask about the conversations for you with the introduction of Maura.
BR: We always play around with scenes, and we have lots of different versions of the same scene. There’s a quite fiery one, or there’s a comedic one. I think what you get from her is somebody who’s quite unfazed, who is just going with the flow. She’s not surprised to find Dougal in his said state, even though she’s going to find her maid, Hetty. She just happens to stumble across Dougal.
That scene is quite short, but there’s a moment between [Maura and Dougal]. There’s something there.
SR: [to Bobby] Do you think if the marriage thing hadn’t happened, that they would have been pals?
BR: Oh yeah!
SR: I think we’d be at the back of the wedding just getting smashed.
BR: I’m always trying to get Maura to be drunk in scenes.
SR: We’d definitely be the two drunks at the back.
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Outlander: Blood of My Blood is available to stream on STARZ.