‘Outlander: Blood of My Blood’ Team Breaks Down Prequel’s Most Heart-Wrenching Episode Yet

[This story contains major spoilers from the first six episodes of Outlander: Blood of My Blood.]

When he first set out to create Blood of My Blood, executive producer Matthew B. Roberts thought he was only going to tell the love story of Jamie’s parents, Ellen MacKenzie (Harriet Slater) and Brian Fraser (Jamie Roy), who were mentioned in Diana Gabaldon’s original Outlander novels. But as he began to develop the long-gestating prequel, Roberts quickly realized that he would also need to tell the origin story of Claire’s parents, Julia Moriston (Hermione Corfield) and Henry Beauchamp (Jeremy Irvine), in order to sustain an ongoing series.

In true Outlander fashion, Roberts thought of an ingenious twist that would allow for the two sets of parents to cross paths despite being born two centuries apart. At the end of the series premiere, in a dramatic departure from the canon established in the original series, Julia and Henry survive a near-fatal car crash in the Highlands. And like their daughter, they discover they have the ability to pass through time using the standing stones at Craigh Na Dun.

Suddenly, Julia and Henry — who fell in love through written correspondence during World War I while he was battling on the Western Front and she was working for the London redaction office — are transported from their shared life in 19th-century, post-war England and thrust into separate lives in 17th-century Scotland. Julia, who was already pregnant with her and Henry’s second child, is forced to work as a maidservant for the reprehensible Lord Lovat (Tony Curran), who happens to be the father of Brian. Meanwhile, in a desperate attempt to both protect himself and buy enough time to find Julia, Henry agrees to become the bladier — or main advisor — to the Grants, a rival clan whose son, Malcolm (Jhon Lumsden), is set to marry Ellen as part of a strategic alliance.

Over the course of the next five episodes, as Julia and Henry each fight to ensure their own survival, viewers are given little windows into the spouses’ former life. “It was really important for those [flashback] scenes, when we do see them together, for there to be lightness and joy and attraction and all the things that make an audience go, ‘Oh my gosh, I love seeing those two together,’ because otherwise you’re not going to long for them to be back together again,” Corfield tells The Hollywood Reporter. “But I think that was the key — when they are together, it’s joyful, because there’s so much sadness and darkness that follows when they’re separated.”

That darkness pushes Julia to make a shocking choice in the third episode of the prequel. Since Julia’s arrival at Castle Leathers, Davina Porter (Sara Vickers), the long-time servant of Lord Lovat and the mother of Brian, has suspected that Julia is pregnant. Davina even tries to convince her to drink a bunch of herbs that will induce an abortion, but Julia denies that she is with child. But knowing that she doesn’t have long before she will begin to show, Julia decides to sleep with Lord Lovat, giving her the ability to pass off her and Henry’s child as Lovat’s own.

Julia Gives Birth to Claire’s Sibling — With Davina’s Help

At the start of episode six, when she begins to experience her first labor contractions in 18th-century Scotland, Julia says in a voiceover, “They say a man is born alone and dies alone. But whoever said that is clearly not of the female persuasion. Because it’s not true — at least, the first part isn’t. Man is born of a woman, who is with you through your birth. A mother.”

Motherhood is the dominant theme of the most heart-wrenching hour of the Outlander prequel to date. Written by Danielle Berrow and directed by Matthew Moore, the sixth episode, titled “Birthright,” centers around Julia giving birth to a son who Lord Lovat believes will be the future king of Scotland. A group of midwives arrive at Castle Leathers to assist with the birth. But after Davina publicly accuses Julia mid-labor of seducing Lord Lovat, the group of women suddenly turn on Julia, yelling at her to repent her sins and repeatedly questioning her about the paternity of her child. (Julia maintains that Lord Lovat is the father of her child, even under severe duress.)

Corfield, for her part, was excited and undaunted by the challenge of having to push Julia to her breaking point take after take. “Because she’s reduced down to her animal instinct, Julia has to fluctuate between tiger mom aggression — like, ‘Get your hands off me!’ — to begging Davina [for mercy],” she says of her approach to playing that harrowing birth sequence. “That was key to making sure that there was variation in the scene. It keeps the audience wanting to watch, hopefully, because it’s a painful watch as well.”

But that is not to say that the weeklong shoot wasn’t physically demanding. “Some of the younger characters were physically holding me down, and it got to the point where I was actually so tired I couldn’t stand up and I had to be like, ‘Please don’t worry about holding me down on this one. I actually can’t get up at this point,’” Corfield recalls with a laugh. “It was very tiring, but I loved every second of it.”

The episode specifically juxtaposes this birth scene from hell with Julia giving birth to Claire, with Henry by her side, inside their flat in the 20th century. “That first birth scene, they’re so much in love and it’s about a young couple who are working this out for the first time and they’re both trying to think on their feet,” Corfield says. “There’s that lovely bit where Henry tries to put the music on and Julia says, ‘Not now, darling.’ And we played around with that line, whether it was going to be a polite sort of ‘No, thank you, darling,’ or ‘Shut the f— up, and just stop trying to distract me!’ I preferred that second version, because I think that it’s real and it added a lightness to it.”

The hour, despite those brief moments of levity, is particularly dark and gritty. Outlander has never shied away from depictions of sexual violence, and in keeping with how he was conceived in Gabaldon’s novels, Blood of My Blood reveals that Brian was a product of rape. “I think as we go forward, the fans can expect those tentpoles. We’re not going to change the mythology or the canon in that way, but showing that story [on screen] is a little different,” Roberts tells THR. “We’re showing Davina and how Lovat took advantage of her, to say the least. But in his mind, he’s not [taking advantage of her]. I think what needs to be shown is that this guy doesn’t think that there’s a problem there.”

In flashbacks, Lord Lovat violently sexually assaults Davina multiple times for his own pleasure, and her own mistress later claims that a heavily pregnant Davina brought this fate upon herself. “Davina’s held this shame for so long because of what happened between her and Lovat, and [she believed] that it was her fault,” says executive producer Maril Davis. “She thinks Julia has been taking advantage of her and this situation. And in [this] episode, she finally realizes that it wasn’t her fault with Lovat; that Julia has experienced the same thing she did and is being cast out and is going to be giving birth alone. Davina doesn’t want the same thing to happen to [Julia] — she basically birthed Brian all on her own — so I think that is a huge turning point in their relationship.”

Davina ends up yelling at the rest of the midwives to get out of the birthing chamber, and she delivers Julia’s baby on her own. The dramatic irony, of course, is that Julia did seduce Lovat and is now trying to take advantage of a precedent set by Davina with her own son, but Julia still ends up appealing to Davina’s better angels.

“In that moment, Davina recognizes her younger self, but also it’s a moment of mother to mother,” Corfield adds. “Julia is appealing to Davina as a mother and saying, ‘You are the person that shaped your child. [He has] nothing to do with Lord Lovat. Don’t leave my child at the mercy of Lord Lovat. Let me survive this so I can raise the child myself.’ I think it’s that appeal that really gets through to Davina.”

Henry’s Shocking Discovery

Irvine is no stranger to playing World War I veterans, having starred in Steven Spielberg’s 2011 film War Horse, but Blood of My Blood has afforded him an opportunity to delve further into the long-term effects of PTSD on former soldiers. “Getting to play someone who’s mentally damaged, as sad as that is, is a real gift for an actor. There’s so much to get your teeth into, and so many different ways you can take it,” Irvine says. “I wanted him to have this involuntary tremor in his hand, which ends up becoming a thing in the show, and waking nightmares and other stuff that were already written in. [I was interested in] looking at how [PTSD] affects people. I read a few books, but there’s not much you can’t learn off the internet.”

After Henry reveals in episode six that he is planning to visit some of the midwives in the area to see if any of them recently helped Julia give birth, Arch Bug (Terence Rae), a loyal servant of the Grants, offers to bring a bunch of midwives to their estate for questioning. But of course, Arch Bug could care less about Henry’s unseen wife. In fact, he ends up paying off a midwife to lie that Julia and her baby died and were buried in an unmarked grave.

Henry’s reaction to the news is hard to watch; he goes from being overcome with grief and unable to catch his breath to maniacally laughing and running through the streets — as he did after the end of World War I — declaring that “it’s over.” He ends up seeking comfort in the arms of Seema (Lauren McQueen), a prostitute whom he hallucinates as Julia.

“We’ve seen Henry and Julia and how in love they are when they’re together. Now, we’ve got to show that if he believes she’s gone, that if she’s dead, then part of him is dead. He would die for her in a second. And if that person is gone, then he needs to be completely and utterly broken,” explains Irvine. “I wanted to go from that [feeling] and then go to the exact opposite, because I thought that would be incredibly unsettling to watch — to see him go from this utter desolation and grief to elation.

“When we read it, there wasn’t any sort of laughing in the script, but I thought, ‘God, what if he starts laughing? What if he’s just suddenly incredibly happy?’ I thought we have to show how mad [or insane] he is,” Irvine continues. “If we don’t show him mentally losing grip on reality, then are we going to sympathize with him when he goes and does this awful thing with Seema? I just thought it’d be really unsettling to show him going to the absolute darkest place and then coming out a few minutes later in the opposite emotion to show his fragile mental state.”

The Future In-Laws Become Unexpected Allies

Ever since Starz revealed in a trailer that Julia and Henry would be able to time travel like their daughter, Outlander fans have been theorizing about how Claire’s parents would inevitably intersect with Jamie’s parents. While they are thus far unaware of the connection between Julia and the Grants’ new bladier, Ellen and Brian, who are really the star-crossed lovers of this prequel, they have Julia to thank for helping to facilitate one of their late-night encounters.

So when Julia approaches Brian one morning mid-labor and confesses to having slept with Lord Lovat in a last-ditch attempt to protect her and Henry’s unborn child from certain banishment or even death, Brian can’t help but return the favor, springing into action to protect her during childbirth — even at the risk of incurring the wrath of his old man.

In doing so, Julia and Brian have found unlikely allies in each other. “At the beginning, she’s almost invisible to him as the maidservant and then he’s wary of her because he thinks she’s got strange intentions in terms of being with Lovat. Once she’s honest and open and vulnerable with him, he fully takes her on,” Corfield explains of the “very sweet” relationship between the eventual in-laws. “Because he’s clearly a loving man that protects his mother, he then has that same energy towards Julia and they recognize in each other the longing they have for the person they can’t be with. They’re two people that are heartbroken and a little bit lost because they’re not with the person that they want to be with.”

“It’s almost like a sibling relationship where they look after each other’s backs, because that’s who Brian is as a person,” Roy concurs. “I think he gets that from his mom, who’s a natural caretaker. She’s full of love, and he sees his dad [being] everything that he doesn’t want to be, which is this woman-beater, misogynist. So he doesn’t think twice about protecting the people who need saving. It was actually Matt Roberts who said at the start, when we’re talking about Brian and who he is at his core, ‘Think of him almost as an 18th-century Superman.’ I was like, ‘Say no more! I know exactly where I’m going to go.’”

Roy believes what underlies Brian’s selfless nature is a deep-seated desire to get the elusive respect and approval of Lord Lovat, who has always looked down on his son due to his illegitimacy. “Brian’s not jealous of this unborn son, but there’s a part of him which feels quite sad about the fact that he doesn’t have this love from his father,” Roy says. In episode six, “that meeting he has in the bedroom with Lovat is almost a last-ditch attempt to reach out to him and connect. Then, when all hell lets loose in the hall during the birth” — and Brian kicks Lovat out of the birthing chamber — “that’s the final straw.”

Brian later ends up getting whipped for his insolence toward his father, but it is a price that he is willing to pay to mend his relationship with Julia. In the moving final scene, Brian tells Julia that her new baby, William, “will always have a friend” — and essentially a protector — in him, and Julia lets Brian, who doesn’t even know his own birthday, blow out the candle on a cake for her newborn.

“By the end of the episode, they have this moment of quiet and stillness with this beautiful newborn child, who actually was a baby. It was two weeks old or something like that,” Roy recalls. “Whenever you get to act with a baby, it is incredible. You forget about everything else. You’re just taking care of them. It grounds you so much and you forget you’re acting. I think as Jamie and Hermione, but also Brian and Julia, we both really appreciated that moment of stillness, and it just was a really beautiful scene to film.”

“There’s Some Very Awkward Questions to Be Asked From Both of Them”

Julia may have just given birth to her and Henry’s second child, but there is still the issue that her mentally unwell husband believes she died in childbirth. Since Blood of My Blood has already been renewed for a second season, viewers can rest assured that Julia and Henry’s reunion is a matter of when and how, not if.

According to Roberts, the writers rooms in the Outlander universe are always guided by three key questions for all of the fan-favorite couples: “How are they going to get back together? How are they going to find each other? And how are they going to stay together?”

In Julia and Henry’s case, “they have no freedoms; they don’t have their own free will, so to speak,” Roberts remarks. “Certainly, with the birth of that child, it’s not good for Julia. It actually becomes worse now that she’s had a child. Henry is in the service of the Grants, and he can’t just go, ‘Hey, I’m going to quit now.’ So I think both these characters are in their prisons, and all they want to do is get to each other — and they will eventually. But how that happens is the fun part.”

“The season definitely ends on a crescendo, so it’s building up and up,” Irvine previews of the final four episodes with a smile. “The story would be over if Julia was gone for him entirely, so yes, there might be a meeting again. And then there’s some very awkward questions to be asked from both of them. They put unconditional love to the test.”

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New episodes of Outlander: Blood of My Blood are available to stream Fridays at midnight on the Starz app, with the season finale on Oct. 10.