New Outlander Spinoff Castings Include Deep Cut for Book Fans

The latest round of Outlander spinoff casting includes an Easter Egg for a subset of the book-loyal fandom.

Starz on Wednesday announced the addition of four roles to the forthcoming prequel, Blood of My Blood. Among them: Watchmen‘s Sara Vickers in the part of Brian Fraser’s mother (and, therefore, Jamie Fraser’s grandmother). The character is a housekeeper in the Lovat household, which is good and all, but we’re super into how she’s also named after someone many devotees of author Diana Gabaldon will recognize: Davina Porter, who narrates the audiobook versions of Gabaldon’s Outlander book series.

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Jamie’s paternal grandmother isn’t named in any of the novels, though she is mentioned briefly in The Outlandish Companion compendium, in an apparent nod to the woman who reads — and therefore voices all of Gabaldon’s characters in — the audiobooks.

In a Season 2 episode of the TV adaptation, an ashamed Jamie confesses to Claire that his father was an acknowledged bastard of Lord Lovat; he apologizes for not having the courage to tell her the truth before their wedding. (Claire doesn’t care — here’s a recap to refresh your memory.)

Also in Thursday’s casting announcement:

* Brian McCardie (Britbox’s Crime) will play Isaac Grant, leader of Clan Grant.

* Jhon Lumsden (Torchwood: The Story Continues) will play Grant’s son, Malcolm, a potential suitor for Ellen MacKEnzie.

* Peter Mullan (Ozark) will play Red Jacob MacKenzie, laird of Clan MacKenzie and father of Ellen, Dougal, Colum, Janet and Jocasta.

The Starz drama’s prequel will follow Jamie’s father and mother (Brian Fraser and Ellen MacKenzie) as well as Claire’s parents (Julia Moriston and Henry Beauchamp). “The series will center on these two parallel love stories set in two different time periods, with Jamie’s parents in the early 18th-century Scottish Highlands and Claire’s parents in WWI England,” the official logline reads.

Jamie Roy (Condor’s Nest) will play Brian opposite Harriet Slater (Pennyworth) as Ellen, and Jeremy Irvine (Mamma Mia! Here We Go Again) and Hermione Corfield (Star Wars: The Last Jedi) will portray Henry and Julia, respectively. The ensemble also includes Rory Alexander (Pistol) as Murtagh Fitzgibbons Fraser, Sam Retford (Coronation Street) as Dougal, Séamus McLean Ross as Colum and Conor MacNeill (Industry) as Ned Gowan.

Outlander‘s Matthew B. Roberts will serve as showrunner, executive producer and writer on the new series. Outlander‘s Ronald D. Moore and Maril Davis also will executive-produce, and Gabaldon will serve as a consulting producer.

Starz ordered Outlander‘s first spinoff to series in January 2023. At the same time, the network announced that the original show would end with a 10-episode Season 8.

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