THERE he is—fierce, fair but don’t-fuck-with-me-or-mine James Alexander Malcolm Mackenzie Fraser!
I was worried there for a little while, but in episode 209 Sam Heughan did a great job of capturing book-Jamie’s spirit.
Didn’t you just love the way he ‘handled’ Dougal; respectful yet stern, unwavering in his decisions? And also how he held himself accountable to his men—even Dougal had to give him props for that…
It was classic book-Jamie.
I saw confidence, I saw strong will, I saw, finally, a LEADER not a follower! I’ve so been waiting for that!
This is a turning point for Jamie, it’s the beginning of his evolution into the ‘King of Men’ persona he is so widely known and loved for (among book fans anyway).
While I do still prefer the books, I thoroughly enjoy the show—including the liberties taken with characters & story lines (Angus, Rupert, need I say more?)
But it saddens me, as an Outlander fan, that the non-book readers have not experienced the painful yet satisfying sexual-healing of the ‘Stinging Nettle’ scene (which has a correlating recipe from Outlander Kitchen w/an excerpt of that scene by the way), or the more pronounced (yet subtle) badass-ness of Jamie in general.
Take this scene for example. A no-nonsense display of chivalry by Jamie in defending Claire’s honor to Simon Jr (who is hardly spineless, as he was portrayed in the show):
Dragonfly in Amber, chapter 40:
(Young Simon Fraser, to Claire) “I’d heard of ye, you know,” he said. “You’ve a bit of fame through the Highlands, Mistress.”
“Oh really? How nice.” I tugged inconspicuously; in response, his hand tightened around mine in a grip that was nearly painful.”
“Oh aye. I’ve heard you’re verra popular with the men of your husband’s command,” he said, smiling so hard his eyes narrowed to dark-brown slits. “They call ye neo-geimnidh meala, I hear. That means ‘Mistress honeylips,’ ” he translated, seeing my look of bewilderment at the unfamiliar Gaelic.
“Why, thank you…” I began, but got no more than the first words out before Jamie’s fist crashed into Simon Junior’s jaw and sent his half-uncle reeling into a piecrust table, scattering sweetmeats and serving spoons across the polished slates with a terrific clatter.
He dressed like a gentleman, but he had a brawler’s instincts. Young simon rolled up onto his knees, fists clenched, and froze there. Jamie stood over him, fists doubled but loose, his stillness more menacing than open threat.
“No,” he said evenly, “she doesna have much Gaelic. And now that ye’ve proved it to everyone’s satisfaction, ye’ll kindly apologize to my wife, before I kick your teeth down your throat.”
I know that they changed Simon Jr’s & Laoghaire’s storyline to make a different upcoming storyline more palatable, and that the rest of this season and the beginning of next are what ultimately shape Jamie’s ‘King of Men’ reputation, but I miss his subtle humor, his understated confidence.
They nailed that in the very first episode, 101, when Jamie is preventing Claire from escaping by threatening to throw her over his injured shoulder, lol …
It can’t be easy to translate Diana Gabaldon’s work into another medium; that’s akin to messing with perfection.
In the books, I feel like Jamie’s tougher, a little more rough around the edges. That’s no criticism of Sam Heughan or Production, mind you, they absolutely are doing JAMMF & Outlander justice. Perhaps it’s just the way it translates to script…
(But seriously, isn’t Jamie defending Claire’s honor in such an ‘alpha male’ way a turn-on, lol?)
Allan Scott Douglas & Diana Gabaldon at the Lord Provost of Aberdeen’s Civic Reception to conclude Tartan Day, 2011.
By now we have all accepted Sam Heughan as our beloved JAMMF, but did you ken that he wasna the first?
It’s true—there was another ‘official’ Jamie Fraser, years before Sam:
When I was in Edinburgh in 2009, I made the acquaintance of a lovely man named Mike Gibb. Mike’s a lyricist and playwright, and having fallen in love with OUTLANDER, asked me whether I might approve his writing a song-cycle of the story: a series of 14-15 songs, telling the high points of the story, which might later form the libretto for a stage production.
Mike and his friends, composer Kevin Walsh, did a couple of demo songs for me, which I found entirely charming, and they went ahead with the project. I’m enchanted with the results. ~ Diana Gabaldon, 2010/Outlanderthemusical.com
And so a musical was born:
(Listen to Outlander the Musical song samples or purchase the CD here – it’s also available on iTunes)
Well, being obsessed with all things Outlander, naturally I ordered the CD as soon as soon as I found out about it, let alone as fast as my fingers could type! And it was then that I learned that the role of Jamie Fraser was sung by Allan Scott Douglas, an actor/singer and native Scot.
…Allan is absolutely delighted to have joined the Outlander universe and hopes he can live up to the expectations and fluttering hearts that Jamie’s words have set over the years – if all else fails, he is at least a 6’4″ redhead who regularly wears a kilt and whose nose is slightly too long…so at least he’s got that part of Jamie covered!
I thought it would be nice to get Allan’s perspective on his experience with Outlander/JAMMF, as well as get to know the non-Outlander side of him (he’s been keeping busy, whether working on projects in Egypt, Turkey, or home in bonny Scotland…
Thanks to Outlander the Musical, you have the distinct honor of being the original “Jamie Fraser” in a production setting; knowing what you know now about the popularity/success of the series, would you have portrayed him any differently if you had the chance?
When I first got the part of Jamie in Outlander The Musical, everything happened very quickly.
We were in the studio recording barely a couple of weeks after my audition. I am incredibly proud of the finished product and I truly believe we did the story and characters justice. However, if there was anything I would’ve done differently I guess it would’ve been to have had a bit more time to research the whole Outlander universe.
I felt I had a good understanding of Jamie and where he was in his journey in each of the songs in the musical—what I didn’t know though was just how massive the Outlander series really was and how incredibly fanatical it’s readers are.
It’s been an amazing journey for me but, for the first few months, I was genuinely shocked at just how many people suddenly knew who I was and had such strong opinions (both good and bad) on me as Jamie.
(He’s not kidding about Outlander readers being fanatical, and having strong opinions regarding him as Jamie; by and large he has been well received by Outlander fans, though he has had his (un)fair share of criticism.
I recall a specific instance last year when, on Herself’s Facebook wall, some incredibly rude and insensitive comments were made about his physical appearance, respective to his resemblance to Jamie. Mass bickering ensued and the whole debacle left many of us in the Outlander community with a bad taste in our mouths.
But Allan took it all in stride. Check out his classy response:
“It’s just as well I’m a polite and even-tempered chap really, isn’t it? I COULD go through the images of each person who has posted mindless negativity and dissect everything that is wrong with their appearance and throw out random character assassinations purely on that basis—but thankfully, my mother raised me better than that.”)
Other than that, I kinda wish I known I was going to be portraying Jamie far enough in advance not to dye my hair purple a few weeks before my audition and therefore having to sport what was basically a crew cut for the concert performances and photo shoots…
Here is Allan as Jamie with ‘The Crew Cut:’
(Photo credit: Outlanderthemusical.com)
Here is what Allan’s hair is capable of, lol:
Photo credit: Allan Scott Douglas/fan page on Facebook
His answer to this next question really took me by surprise—not what I was expecting him to say at all.
Who is your favorite character in the Outlander series? What do you think are their best and worst personality traits?
This might be highly controversial but the character I find the most fascinating is actually none other than “Black Jack” Jonathan Randall. I’m not sure how easy it would be to pick a “best personality trait” but he is definitely a character that intrigues me every time he appears.
As a reader, I find everything about him incredibly uncomfortable but I’ve always been the sort of person who is deeply fascinated by slightly deranged/damaged individuals. Without such an incredibly well written anti-hero, Jamie probably wouldn’t have captured everyone’s heart quite so readily.
I guess, at heart, I’m just the nerdy kid who roots for the bad guy…
Have you ever portrayed a deranged/damaged character? (Gene Simmons doesn’t count lol)
Wow, that’s an awesome question!
I once did a short film in which I played a Hitman who was sent to kill someone for cheating on his girlfriend; just when the Hitman was about to pull the trigger, he suddenly broke down in floods of tears…and it transpired that, just that very evening, his own girlfriend had thrown him a ‘surprise’ birthday party, but as soon as she had jumped out from the dark to surprise him, his killer instincts had set in and he shot her in the head before realising what was going on.
That was one truly messed up mindset to try to get into to shoot a movie…
I also once played a psychotically deranged Glasgow gangster who constantly got into blazing rows with his brother…despite the fact that his brother had been dead for 10 years! Now THAT was a lot of fun…
Wow, those are two interesting characters! Were they both Scottish? Don’t you have something of a talent for different dialects around the UK?
Yeah, both of those particular characters were Scottish (perhaps Scottish characters just have a more naturally deranged disposition…) but I do love working in other accents too.
In the play Laquearia, I played the Irish playwright and novelist Samuel Beckett and really enjoyed finding what little video and audio recordings there are of him and tried to give a faithful performance of him both physically and vocally.
Challenges like that are what make this business so fascinating and (when you get it right) rewarding for me.
His dedication and humility are refreshing; it’s wonderful that he truly enjoys what he does for a living because we the audience reap the benefits. Specifically I was thrilled to learn of another, separate connection to the Outlander Universe…
July 2013 was a monumental month for Outlander fans, in more ways than one. First, when it was leaked that Sam Heughan was cast as Jamie; Allan Tweeted this:
Well, from one “Jamie” to another, I’d like to wish @Heughan every success in the Starz series! Oh and you lot, be gentle with him…
— Allan Scott-Douglas (@AlScottDouglas) July 6, 2013
He’s a class act, that Allan! And, he had some good news of his own to share (from his Facebook wall, July 3rd):
Well, now that all the contracts and various legal forms have come through (and since Diana herself has already mentioned it on Twitter), I think I’m safe to now officially announce that I am delighted to have been chosen to read Diana’s short story “Virgins” for Random House Audiobooks.
“Virgins” is one of 21 stories which have been selected for inclusion in an upcoming anthology called “Dangerous Women”—which is being put together by none other than Mr. George R.R. Martin, of ‘Game Of Thrones’ fame!! The anthology and it’s audiobook version are due for release in December. To say I am excited would be something of an understatement! This is an anthology featuring work by some of the world’s finest sci-fi and fantasy novelists and will feature a host of very well-known actors lending their voices to the audio versions—along with little old me!
Even more humbling was the fact that a prominent Game Of Thrones actor was offered to Diana to read “Virgins” but she felt I was better suited and Random House have bent over backwards to get me on board! Still a few logistical issue to iron out but I’m hoping to get the recording done by early September. Thank you all so much for all your support—I remain utterly bemused that so many people have taken an interest in my career but I appreciate every single one of you and hope there are many more exciting announcements to share with you all in the future…
You KNOW I couldn’t wait to ask him about THAT!
What was your experience like working on Virgins?
Working on Virgins, for it’s inclusion in the “Dangerous Women,” anthology being compiled by George R. R. Martin and Gardner Dozois, was a truly amazing experience! Hooking up, via Skype, with the director Fred in LA was incredible and the whole process was just so much fun!
It was also very interesting for me personally having to read as Ian, as well Jamie, as Ian was a character I hadn’t had any experience of up to that point.
I really can’t wait for everyone to hear the finished product and just hope I can live up to the very high standards Davina Porter sets with the main Outlander audiobooks.
♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦
Well we can’t wait to hear it too! Diana Gabaldon said on her Facebook wall today that “Dangerous Women” anthology will be released on December 3rd, so hopefully the audio version will be available at the same time. I think I’ll have to buy both, just to hear Allan’s narration! What about you?
BONUS: From Allan’s Facebook page (a snippet of his narration skills,which are verra nice I might add):
Howdy folks! Here’s a wee 90 second free preview of the radio drama adaptation of Edgar Allan Poe’s chilling story “The Black Cat” which I recorded earlier this year. The full version is available for just $1.99 on iTunes. Something to tide you all over until ‘Virgins’ is realised… 🙂
Some of you may know this English actress her from her recurring role as Margaret Blaine, the alien Slitheen on Dr Who (2005).
She has an impressive list of acting credits, see for yourself on her imdb page.
Here’s a trailer clip featuring Annette on Dr Who:
Interesting- did you know that she & Sam Heughan (the actor cast as Jamie Fraser) both appeared the UK-based tv series Doctors, though not at the same time? And, she & Stephen Walters (the actor cast as Angus Mhor) also both appeared on the UK-based tv series Skins, though again, not at the same time.
Given her experience, I have no doubt that she’ll do Mrs Fitz justice. And, come on, how freakin’ perfect is she physically for this role? I canna WAIT to see her outfitted as Mrs Fitz!
Photo: Sam “Jamie Fraser Heughan” by Alex Oliver: dibujante
While we wait with bated breath for the announcement of who will be cast as Claire, I thought I would share some things to Sam Heughan’s credit that should make you verra excited (as if you weren’t already!).
It seems our Sam is truly dedicated to portraying Jamie as accurately as possible.
Earlier last month, Diana mentioned that Sam asked her, “Why did you make Jamie left-handed?”
Her partial response (quite thorough, I might add):
For starters– left-handed-ness was seen (through most of Europe) as a sign that the demons had been at your cradle, and you were likely someone as would bear watching, at the very least. Since they thought red hair was also a sign of the devil (flames, you know), a red-headed lefty was going to be a Suspicious Character. (He’s …got red hair because I have a major weakness for red-headed men. I also had one at home to use as a body model.) That’s why his schoolmasters forced him to write with his right hand, thus doubtless screwing up his central wiring summat, but also giving him a degree of ambidextrousness (which may come in handy if you have to use a sword).
(Now, bear in mind that I wrote OUTLANDER for practice, never intending to show it to anyone, let alone try to publish it. Add to that that I don’t think linearly (it’s more like one of those nets of Christmas lights; a bulb lights up _here_ and then one _there_, and while there actually is a connection between them, an observer isn’t going to see that connection until a lot more bulbs have been lit), and therefore don’t write with an outline or in a _straight_ line. Consequently, I often have small details whose importance/linkage doesn’t show up right away, or that develop additional links later. In other words, I didn’t plan all this out in advance, I just realized it while looking back over my shoulder.)
Next thing is to do with how the clan system worked…
(For the rest of Herself’s response (and there is much more), visit Glenna Fitzgibbons’ Facebook page, the first comment in a post from July 24th, 2013.)
Don’t you love having more insight into why Jamie is the way he is? I know I do.
How fortunate are we as Outlander fans to know that Sam is taking this role so seriously? I canna tell you how happy it makes me that he is reaching out to Diana and genuinely trying to get inside Jamie’s head.
Also, he is already engaging fans. He’s such a tease:
A recent Tweet which unsurprisingly incited an Outlander fan frenzy
DG’s response to above Tweet.
(Sam & Diana Tweet to each other often, use nicknames for one another: “Sheugs” & “Gabs,” lol)
Anyhoo, I’m guessing that Sam is right-hand dominant; I wonder how much training he will need to confidently wield a claymore, left-handed? I’m sure he’ll do fine, given his dedication to Jamie, and the fans, thus far…♥
Well, now…according to the Official Language that was suggested to me yesterday when they told me to go ahead and post the news that Scottish actor Sam Heughan has been chosen to play Jamie Fraser in the new Starz cable-TV series (it’s not a movie, it’s not a mini-series, it’s regular series television, but on a subscription channel)……
“I can’t confirm if the contracts are signed and he is officially Jamie Fraser but I can say Sam Heughan did audition. He was and is my top choice!”
…
This was after the Starz_channel Twitter account sent out a cheery little tweet yesterday urging people to “Follow @Heughan, who is to play Jamie Fraser on the new Outlander series!”
Which kind of caused Mass Consternation <cough>, to put it mildly, among all the PR people who had been planning press releases and controlled rollouts, etc.
Enough people saw that tweet–during the half-hour or so it was up –that the news was spreading like hair-oil on a sofa, so Ron Moore told me to go ahead and let the cat all the way out of the bag, via Facebook and Twitter. (When I looked a moment ago, there had been 350,000 views of the original posting, and about the same (collectively) for the three followups.) ~ Diana Gabaldon
So, it shouldn’t be overlong before we find out who will play Claire to Sam’s Jamie, ken?
Yesterday Starz tweeted that “Sam Heughan” had been offered the role of Jamie Fraser, and as you can imagine, the news spread like wildfire throughout the Outlander community—then they took down the tweet and have been mum since.
What’s up with that?
Rumor has it that someone jumped the gun, and either the role had not been offered or Sam had not accepted; it was still in the negotiation-stage. Here’s what we know about Sam so far:
He’s Scottish, 6’3″, 33 yrs old and an impressive actor. Check out this clip reel:
Diana added her two cents when the news first broke:
Well, you know…_carpe diem_. <g>
I can’t confirm that the contracts are signed and Sam Heughan is officially Jamie Fraser….but I _can_ say that he auditioned–and I saw the tapes. He was and is totally MY top choice! ~ Diana Gabaldon
He’s got Jamie’s facial expression—I can just hear him saying, “You’re no verra sensible Sassenach, but I like ye fine.”
Looks like he’s good with horses too, a *must* for Jamie’s character.
Remember, nothing is official yet, but it seems pretty likely at this point that Sam will be Jamie. Herself had A LOT more to say about it this morning:
A few thoughts. <cough>Do you, um, _know_ what it is that an actor does?
No, really. Do you? They do what I do—they make magic happen. They do it with their faces and bodies, while I do it with words, but it’s essentially the same t…hing. They create something that wasn’t there before.
Granted, sometimes it helps if you have the rough physical outline for a particular role. MOST of a physical resemblance, though, is really not necessary, and for two reasons:1) Physical appearance is _very_ mutable. Hair and eye color are so simple to change that I’m amazed _anyone_ is carrying on about what color Mr. Heughan’s hair _is_. (For the record, he’s blond. Like any other actor, hedyes his hair as needed. It’s dark in these photos; it could bered within half an hour.)2) Much more importantly—beyond very basic things like height and general build, physical aspects are just not that important, provided that an actor can _act_.As one of the producers said to me—anent the auditioning process—“We were hoping that somebody would just walk in and _be_ Jamie.”
OK. Now, I got the word about Sam Heughan (it’s pronounced HEW-en, btw, in case you were wondering. He’s Scottish, and it may well originally have been a Gaelic name) while I was driving to Santa Fe with my husband; they thought they’d found Jamie and were sending me the audition videos a little later. Well, naturally, I spent the next hour Googling “Sam Heughan” on my iPhone.
Now—I think this point may just possibly have escaped a few thousand of you, so let me restate it: Jamie is TWENTY-TWO in OUTLANDER, and a virgin. And as the producers do understand and respect the story very much, they wanted a guy who could believably _be_ a twenty-two-year-old virgin. (Yes, I know half of you are thinking of him as he is in the later books and thus “see” him in his 50’s. That doesn’t mean the producers should cast someone in his late 40’s and ask him to play a 22-year-old virgin. Am I right? Yes, I am. Now that _that’s_ settled…)
So I’m lookin’ at some of Sam’s photos and sayin’ to my husband, “Yeah, I buy him as a virgin…but I think Claire’s going to get done for statutory rape!” You know, a bit apprehensive. He’s quite big, but a very chiseled face that makes him look a good bit younger than he is, at least in stills.
(Husband approved of the stills from “First Light,” btw (where Sam is playing a Spitfire pilot in the Battle of Britain)—“He looks good beat up,” he said. “A good thing for playing Jamie.” )
So anyway…we get to Santa Fe, let the dogs out, air the house, go have dinner… And _then_, I sit down at my computer, in a lather of trepidation and excitement, to watch the audition tapes.
First five seconds, I’m interested—he looks totally different than he did in _any_ of the stills—and five seconds later, Sam Heughan’s GONE, and so am I. It’s Jamie Fraser, right _there_ in front of me, moving, talking. One of the biggest thrills ever.
And that’s what actors do. Good ones. They can “be” someone else, totally.
Now, I saw him do two scenes: the confrontation between Jamie and Dougal, after Dougal exposes Jamie’s back in a tavern. Ferocious, explosive, a glimpse of the warrior. And he…freakin’ _exploded_.
And then…the scene in which Jamie explains to Claire exactly why he intends to punish her for disobeying his orders to stay hidden, thus nearly getting them all killed.
OK. This is arguably _the_ most controversial scene in all the books. And I’m not about to go into the scene itself—not the point here. The point is that that’s one heck of a complex scene, emotionally, and _could_ be read/performed in a lot of different ways. Now, I happen to _know_ exactly how Jamie acted and spoke during that scene…and that’s…exactly what Sam _did_. Thoughtfulness, intimacy, fair-mindedness, annoyance, firmness—and quite a lot of humor. One of Jamie’s hallmarks is the ability to be threatening and funny at the same time—and Sam pulled that off.
So, yeah. I’ve watched those videos a couple dozen times, just to be sure I wasn’t imagining things. I wasn’t. <g>
Now, fwiw—the necessary physical aspects are all there. Sam’s big—my head would hit about the middle of his chest (he’s only an inch shorter than my husband)—and _very_ well-built, in terms of what Jamie actually looks like. Tall, lean (not burly), rangy (not bulgy)*, broad-shouldered, muscular (but a _young_ muscular. Young athletes look way different from gnarly middle-aged ones). Face…chiseled, striking—but looks different in every single role.
And the bottom line is simply this: He showed up and he _was_ Jamie.
*(You know something? I don’t really _care_ if you, personally, have been imagining Chris Hemsworth as Jamie. You’re wrong; he doesn’t look like that at all. ) ~ Diana Gabaldon
Well, if Diana Gabaldon thinks he’s perfect, that’s good enough for me. Fingers crossed for you Sam!
After all, “Essential Entertainment” toyed with Outlander fans for years; EE optioned the books for a movie or tv series back in 2008. They worked with “Randall Wallace” (who wrote the movie “Braveheart”), and “Ann Peacock” (screenwriter for ‘The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe’ 2005 ) who actually wrote a screenplay for a feature film.
We waited, and waited, and EE did nothing.
Part of me was hoping it was taking so long because they were deciding to do a cable tv series vs. a feature film, but I had doubts as to whether any project would be completed in my lifetime, or ever. (Granted, there is a camp of Outlander fans who would just as soon not see the books translated to film, believing no actor could ever do ‘James Alexander Malcolm MacKenzie Fraser’ justice. And while I’m the first to admit that Jamie is a complex character with many, many layers of emotion, I believe it can be done.)
Plus it was so frustrating to see a cable series like HBO’s ‘Game of Thrones’ which I ADORE (based on “George R. R. Martin’s” ‘A Song of Ice & Fire’ books) have so much success, knowing with every fiber of my being that Outlander could achieve that same level of success and more, if only EE would DO something! In the end, they did nothing, ‘Essentially’ depriving the world of Jamie & Claire and there was no help for it. UNTIL that is, Ron Moore took an interest in it…
It was the ‘squeal’ heard round the world:
Diana Gabaldon posted on facebook July 17th, 2012:
“WELL, ALRIGHTY, THEN… Yes! It _is_ true; while final contracts aren’t yet signed, we do have a deal with Sony Pictures for development of a cable-TV (as in HBO, Netflix, Starz, Showtime, whatever…that kind of thing) series.”
And when it was announced on July 17th, 2012 that Ron Moore closed a deal for the rights to Outlander and would be pitching it to cable networks the following week, I was EXCITED! I mean REALLY excited, ESPECIALLY when he tweeted this:
“Big fan of Diana Gabaldon’s Outlander books for many years, excited for the opportunity to do a FAITHFUL interpretation!”
Big fan? Faithful interpretation? Tell me more!
“Ronald D. Moore” is best known for his Emmy nominated work on ‘Star Trek: The Next Generation’ (a show close to my heart- I wanted Jean-Luc Picard to be my father, had a crush on “Number One” William Riker & wanted to BE the empath-counselor Deanna Troi) & most recently ‘Battle Star Galactica,’ where he did get an Emmy in 2008 while serving as Executive Producer (http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0601822/bio)
Star Trek: The Next Generation? Battlestar Galactica? EMMY? I mean, really- could this get any better? You bet your kilt it could! Diana Gabaldon said THIS later that week on the Compuserve forum:
“Actually, Ron and his chief production assistant came out and spent a weekend (not an hour, not a day <g>) with me last month, discussing the books, the characters, various approaches, structural principles–i.e., where it might be best to break the content of a book for a season, an episode, etc.–the background from which I wrote the books, asked if I had any out-takes or background material written for any of the minor characters that might be useful, etc., etc. He’d read everything, including THE EXILE. <g>.”
Well I’m sold. Am I putting the cart before the horse? Maybe, but I don’t think so; Ron is backing up his words with action- that shows integrity, and Outlander deserves no less. I have complete faith in him. He’s obviously committed to making this happen and has proven to be MORE than qualified to handle the task of adapting our beloved Outlander books to a cable tv series.
And Ron, if you’re reading this, THANK YOU. I know that you’ll do the best you can and I can’t WAIT to see your handiwork. ♥
I KNOW I’m not the only one, and you know you do it too! How many times have you caught yourself thinking or even facebooking (yes that’s a verb) with a Scottish accent/using Scottish terminology from the Outlander series? Mayhap verra often? Why do we do it? Yes, it’s fun; personally I blame Herself- I like imagining Jamie’s voice in my head as I type the words (and his chest, and his strong arms, sigh)… I wondered what a real live Scottish person would think about it, so I asked my Scottish friend and fellow Outlander fan “Nik MacKechnie” what she thinks:
“As a Scot, how does that make you feel when you see it? Does it bother you or do you think it’s funny?”
“No, I don’t mind, I do think it’s funny and I don’t think you can help it to be honest! But I would to hear how y’all pronounce some of the words, like ‘ceilidh? Or ‘sgian dubh’ !!”
Ok Nik, these Gaelic pronunciations are for you (sorry in advance for murdering them!):
ceilidh = Saylick? (no effing clue Nik, sorry LOL)
sgian dubh = sagin doo?
And here’s some Scottish terminology from Outlander that I think is fun:
outlanderfan.com 