Note: This story contains spoilers from “Outlander: Blood of My Blood” Season 2, Episode 1.
After the “Outlander: Blood of My Blood” Season 1 finale left off on a cliffhanger, with Julia (Hermione Corfield) and Henry (Jeremy Irvine) attempting to time travel back home with their baby, the Season 2 opener reveals they didn’t quite get their happy ending.
Instead, Henry was plummeted back to 1924 while Julia and their baby remained in the 1700s and forced to return to Lord Lovat (Tony Curran). Henry, on the other hand, found himself trapped in an insane asylum after being found mumbling by the stones, where he endured shock “therapy” that further extenuated his trauma from both the war and from being split from his family.
“It was always our intention to to bring Henry back, but we wanted to make sure that he didn’t choose to go back — it was very much accidental,” showrunner Matthew B. Roberts told TheWrap, noting that the team wanted to keep the time travel alive. “To add to his trauma with the electroshock therapy … I’m using the word very loosely — but that worked out again with all the research that we did about it. It was perfect for Henry in the … story sense, not for the character.”
While Henry endured a torturous reality in the 1920s, Julia dodged attempts at intimacy from Lord Lovat, once again using her wits to convince the laird to answer the call of the Jacobite rebellion alongside Brian (Jamie Roy), who Julia noted might need the guidance of a more experienced soldier. Meanwhile, Julia geared up to seek answers from a seer.
“They’re both struggling to try to get back to each other … that’s been their focus since the beginning,” EP Maril Davis said. “It’s how are we going to be reunited, and how are we getting back to our own time period? And obviously, this time they’re both struggling to get to the same time period.”
Both Henry and Julia have at least one ally along the way, with the housekeeper of the reverend looking after Henry paying him a visit in the final moments of the premiere, while Julia revealed the truth about her time traveling to Davina (Sara Vickers), who was already a believer in supernatural forces.
“We’ve seen that relationship really evolve because they did not start off on good footing,” Roberts said of Julia and Davina. “They’ve grown to actually truly care about each other and love each other, and each one has protected the other’s child … you can see the sacrifice that they’ve each one made and and that’s why that bond is really unbreakable at this point.”
While Julia and Henry are pulled apart by time itself, Brian and Ellen MacKenzie (Harriet Slater) made the difficult decision to split as Brian lended himself to the Jacobite rebellion. “Separated for Brian and Ellen is a little different because they have access to each other, and you’ll see them throughout the season with each other, but again, there’s always something pulling them apart,” Roberts said. “And war for the first half is absolutely that.”
But, before they separate, they savor being together intimately one last time. “This is a couple who’s finally got a chance to be together and now they’re going to be torn apart by war and there’s a desperation there at the end — they don’t know what could happen,” Davis said. “It’s a last ditch effort to cling to each other and hold on tight to each other and have one last moment.”
The Season 2 premiere sees Ellen head back home, where she greets an enraged Colum (Séamus McLean Ross) following her disaster of a wedding day that ended with Brian killing Malcolm Grant (Jhon Lumsden) out of self-defense. Ellen, of course, was prepared for Colum’s anger, which Roberts said is what makes her so fun to write.
“She’s just not this fragile flower that’s going to … have people pluck the petals off of her — she’s an oak,” Roberts said. “She’s not going to topple very easily. And I think Colum’s going to find that out real quick, and so is Dougal.”
And she’s even stronger now that she has something to fight for. “Coming into Season 1, her station in life was almost predestined, and then when she met Brian, it was like, ‘Oh, I want this.’ And then Brian did the same thing,” Roberts said. “That’s the stakes for them … losing that, losing each other. And she’s not going to go down lightly.”
Roberts and Davis teased a “roller coaster” to come for both of the couples, warning, “the struggle won’t end there.” “It’s ‘Outlander’ — they’re not going to be going off to beach and relaxing with a Piña colada,” Davis said. “We’re going to get to see them really fight for each other this season.”
The new season of “Blood of my Blood” comes months after flagship “Outlander” aired its series finale, whose conclusion is still being interpreted by fans. Even Davis admitted she’s still processing how it all wrapped up.
“I don’t think it’s quite left me yet or that I’ve quite put it to bed, but I feel very satisfied with how we ended it, and I just feel very appreciative of all the love and the gratitude for this amazing run we’ve had,” she said. “It’s one of those things I don’t think you ever put to bed … it still lives on.”
“I don’t think it really ends when you can go back and watch it over and over, find different things in it,” Roberts said. “I think that the fans will — once they’re done mourning the loss — they’ll realize it’s not gone, and then they can go back and and do that.”
It’s certainly not the end of the road for the “Outlander” franchise: the EPs revealed they’re mapping out what Season 3 and are “trying right now” to explore what another spinoff series could look like for the franchise.
“Outlander: Blood of My Blood” airs Fridays on Starz.
