Outlander's Sophie Skelton Talks About Brianna's Emotional Reunion with Claire and Jamie
If you haven't watched the ninth episode of Outlander's fourth season, proceed with caution. Spoilers ahead!
Aside from the infamous print shop reunion, few scenes in Outlander are as highly anticipated as the moment Jamie finally meets his daughter Brianna for the first time. She's exhausted from her journey from Scotland and bruised, both mentally and physically, following her rape at the hands of Stephen Bonnet. And despite the less-than-ideal circumstances-let's be real, no one wants to travel through time to meet their father, only to stumble upon him peeing against a wall-it's affecting to watch as she sinks into his arms in relief.
In advance of "The Birds & The Bees," T&C spoke to actress Sophie Skelton about her character Brianna's emotional reunion with her parents, why the showrunners made a key change to Lizzie's character, and her thoughts on showing rape on television in the era of #MeToo.
I want to start by asking about Brianna's reunion with parents because that’s what this season has really been building to. What was it like to shoot that first scene with Sam Heughan?
It's quite a nice parallel because I think that was actually the first scene that Sam and I ever shot together. We’ve done press and been in and around set together for a couple of years, but we haven’t worked together yet. So that was really cool because it gave it that fresh sort of energy.
Their reunion is actually one of my favorite scenes, not just because it’s one of the most anticipated moments from the book, but because there’s so much going on for Bree. It’s not a simple “meeting your father for the first time” moment. She’s got Laoghaire's
voice in her head about will Jamie accept her?; she’s missing her mother; she’s come fresh off the back of losing Roger; and a rape; and losing her virginity; and everything else. She’s so broken.
She’s sort of lost all hope, and I think in that moment, meeting Jamie is relief more than anything else. He’s bringing her one step closer to her mother, and she suddenly feels home and safe. And as soon as he wipes that tear away, it feels like he accepts her. Then she just kind of falls into him because her whole world has unraveled and she needs a hug.
That moment with Sam is so touching, but I almost think the more impactful scene is Brianna’s reunion with her mother.
Bree just needs her mom so badly. What’s beautiful about the scene is that it shows how far Brianna and Claire have come.
In season two and even season three, we’ve seen that they have had a very strained relationship-for all of Bree’s life really. We’ve seen it sort of piecing together slowly and slowly, and as soon as they come closer, they fall apart with Claire going back to the past. They really thought they’d never see each other again-Bree was an orphan as far as she thought.
Their reunion scene shows that no matter how old you are, sometimes when things go really bad, all you need is your mum and a hug. Bree’s been on this voyage for months and months and months, and she really needs her mother. So I wanted to kind of throw Bree at her mum almost, showing that desperation and that need for her mother. I kind of winded Caitriona a bit, nearly knocked her off her feet, but that’s the moment. I think it’s lovely. I think the look on both our faces is just so heartwarming.
And of course later in the episode, there's another poignant conversation between Brianna and Claire. Tell me about that scene.
One thing about Bree this season is I feel like there’s always so much going on in her head. It’s always a paradox for Bree-there’s always relief mixed with heartache, and everything else. In that scene, again, it’s relief that her mother still can read her. It’s not just that Claire knows she’s pregnant because she’s a doctor, it’s showing what a great mother-daughter bond they have.
In that moment, Bree’s probably been thinking about how to tell her mother, or if she should tell her mother [about the pregnancy]. When Claire finally says it, it’s like okay, phew, you know, and I don’t have to brooch this. Then obviously, she's wanting to get the rape off her chest as well. But you know what it’s like when something terrible has happened: if you say it out loud, it makes it true.
It’s a very scary moment even to admit to her mother because we see how much Bree is blaming herself. She takes that breath where she really steels herself, but then she almost goes into her own mind and is reliving the rape.
It’s the first time she’s talked about it out loud, and in a weird way, it’s a beautiful moment to share with her mother. It shows how far their relationship has come.
But Brianna still holds back about Bonnet because she doesn’t want her mother to have to keep a secret from Jamie. She’s still trying to protect her family, even though she’s going through this horrible trauma.
There’s currently a debate happening in media about the choice to make rape a plot point in a story. What do you think about that in the context of the show?
That’s something the show has tried to be very delicate and respectful about. We actually filmed the whole rape scene between Brianna and Bonnet, but the producers decided not to show it. So we re-shot Bonnet closing the doors and now just see the reactions of the people outside the room.
I think that decision came off the back of trying to be sensitive to the times at the moment, the #MeToo movement, and women coming forward about their trauma.
[Having the rape occur off-screen] was a good way of showing it this season, and just having the reaction of the men outside. I think it shows look, this is something that happened in that time, and this was the reaction. And I think it’s great to see now, in this time, with the #MeToo movement, how far we’ve come. People are talking about it and people are standing up.
I think it's going to be a really important scene for people, and I hope that it does come across that way and that people remember that the show is set in a time period where rape did happen. It isn't people trying to put it in there for the sake of putting it in there.
I also think one thing that Outlander does really well is show the PTSD of rape victims. Sometimes, [rape] can happen in a story and it’s forgotten about, but on Outlander, you really do see how it affects people. I hope that for people who’ve been through that trauma, seeing Brianna go through it, and hopefully coming out the other end, gives them a bit of hope and a bit of strength.
One thing I found so moving about this episode was how Lizzie cared for Brianna. Outlander doesn’t have so many female friendships. Tell me about their relationship.
That was something that we really wanted to lay on thickly, how much mutual respect Bree and Lizzie have for each other. They’ve made Lizzie slightly older than she is in the books, and I think it’s nice to show these two women as the same age but from different times. One thing I wanted to make sure that I was very careful of is that I never wanted it to look as if Bree was taking advantage [of Lizzie].
She's a very modern woman for her time even, and the idea of slavery or having somebody do your work for you would be horrible to Bree. But it’s that hard thing of keeping the facade to fit in with the time and not stand out like a sore thumb. Bree is also saving Lizzie in a way by being with her. It’s so nice to show their solidarity. I hope in season five we see a lot more of it.
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