Outlander star Jeremy Irvine has revealed he had an unexpected near-death experience during filming.
The actor, 35, is starring as Henry Beauchamp in the Outlander prequel series, Outlander: Blood of My Blood, with the season one finale airing on October 10.
He portrays the father of Claire Randall, from the original Outlander series, while Hermione Corfield stars as his wife, and Claire’s mother, Julia Moriston.
Jeremy and Hermione, 31, have been close friends off-screen for many years, so needless to say, they had no shortage of fun moments while filming together in the Scottish Highlands.
But there were also some nail-biting moments, and they exclusively told New Idea about the tense time when things took a turn for the worse on set.
Jeremy and Hermione said they enjoyed filming driving scenes together in the rural Highlands, before one glorious sun-soaked day turned into mayhem when the steering on their vehicle broke.
“I nearly killed you down the hill. The steering broke going down a steep Scottish mountain, and that was a bit scary,” Jeremy told us.
While Hermione admitted, “You didn’t say anything at the time, either. You went very quiet, which is how I knew something was wrong.”
“Yeah, I stopped taking the p*** for five minutes,” Jeremy joked.
The Mamma Mia! Here We Go Again star said it was almost “life imitating art” as he detailed the tense near-death experience.
Thankfully, the duo walked away unscathed and despite the terrifying moment, they still described it as their favourite day of filming on set.
“That was a pretty nice day, the sun was shining and we were out,” Hermione gushed.
Jeremy added, “We’ve had some great times. Me and Hermione have been friends for years and years, so a lot of it has felt like we’ve been on holiday together in the Highlands.”
And there were some other difficult moments during filming, with their co-star Jamie Roy, who plays Jamie Fraser’s father Brian, detailing his most difficult day of filming.
The Scottish actor said the fight scene between Brian and his on-screen father, Lord Lovat (Tony Curran), in episode nine was the most physically and emotionally exhausting day for him, especially as they filmed it all in one week.
“That was very physical, and emotions were really high that day, and because of the nature of that whole episode, we filmed it within like one week, which isn’t always the case,” he explained.
“There was like a general energy about the place that day, and we were all just really going for it. I remember at the end of that day, I was fighting with Tony Curran, who plays Lord Lovat, and both of us were just exhausted and spent, physically and emotionally, to the point that he woke up the next day and was like ‘my shoulders, son, are a wee bit tender’, I was like ‘sorry dad!'”
Despite the physical challenges of filming the period drama, they also had no shortage of uplifting moments, with Jamie and Harriet Slater, who plays his on-screen love interest Ellen MacKenzie, sharing their favourite day of filming.
“We had such a good time! To be honest, I loved our stable scene, the scene where [Brian and Ellen] first meet. That was the scene we did for our chemistry read in our auditions,” she shared.
“It was the first scene I ever read for the show when I first put it on tape. We also shot it twice, right at the beginning of the shoot, and then we shot it again at the end for creative reasons – they wanted to do it slightly differently.
“So it was a really nice full circle moment coming back to it, having the whole journey on the show for our characters and then going right back to the moment they first meet.”
“It was very light and very playful, just enjoyable. There was nothing about that day I didn’t like. Everyone was in a good mood, it ticked all the boxes,” Jamie added.
The original Outlander series, based on the book series by Diana Gabaldon, has a huge fanbase, and the eighth and final series will be arriving on screen in 2026, with Blood of My Blood taking over the mantle.
The prequel was renewed for a second series before the first season even finished airing, and there was huge pressure for the cast to live up to the expectations of the beloved original series.
Asked how they dealt with fans’ expectations, Jeremy admitted he didn’t believe showrunners when they were all warned about the popularity of Outlander.
“Despite everyone’s efforts on this to tell us how popular Outlander is, going, ‘you know guys, it’s a really big fanbase out there!’ and I just sort of thought, ‘they say that on every job’,” he shared.
“Every job they go, ‘this is going to be amazing, it’s going to be huge’, and then when we went to go and do press, I think we were all a bit shocked at how popular it was! It was quite nice because so often it’s the other way around, it was a great surprise.”
Showrunner Matthew B Roberts was also keen for the cast to put their own spin on things, rather than mimicking or copying the original franchise.
Aware of the success of Outlander, Jamie and Harriet described it as an “honour” to be trusted with the responsibility to continue the story when the eighth series of Outlander comes to an end.
“We’re really proud of what we’ve done for the first season, and we’ve got so much to show in the second season, which I think is better than the first season, and people are going to really enjoy that. It’s an honour and a privilege,” Jamie said.
It goes without saying that the original Outlander cast understood the pressures of fans’ expectations more than most, especially leading stars Sam Heughan and Caitriona Balfe, who play Jamie and Claire, respectively.
But did Sam and Caitriona have any words of wisdom for the Blood of My Blood cast?
Jamie said: “[Sam] basically just said to enjoy it and to really appreciate every day that you go in. You know you’re going to have your hard days and your fun days, on all ends of the spectrum, but ultimately it passes so quickly, so the more you can be present and enjoy it, the more enjoyable the experience will be, ultimately. All of us have done a pretty good job of that.”
Meanwhile, Jeremy insisted actors don’t really provide each other with practical notes, but are keen to pass on any whispers about what the on-set catering is like.
“I think it’s more like, ‘Is the catering good? Do they put you up somewhere nice?’ That sort of stuff, the housekeeping that we discuss,” he quipped.
Though it’s Jamie’s first time on the Outlander set, he had more background with the show than his co-stars, as he actually went up for an audition for the original series but sadly lost out on the role – something he now sees as the perfect twist of fate.
He auditioned for a small role with only two lines, and was turned down as bosses were instead keeping him in mind for the prequel lead, which he was totally unaware of at the time.
“When I lost that role, I was upset at the time because I thought I was going to be on the show, even if it was for like two lines, but little did I know that things were working in the background,” he explained.
“Even though I did lose that, I was still very optimistic and hopeful that I’d done something right, and that was a win for me. And now, here we are, it’s worked out alright, I got more than two lines!”
While fans are yet to see how Blood of My Blood will wrap up in the October 10 finale, the cast is already busy filming the second series.
“We’re halfway through [filming season two]. It’s hard to believe we’re already halfway,” Harriet shared. “The scripts are great, there’s a lot of exciting stuff.”
“I think season two is going to take it up a level, personally. I think the scripts for this season are even better than the first one, so I’m really excited for the next time round,” Jeremy added.
The air date for season two has not yet been revealed, but hopefully, fans won’t have to wait long to find out what happens next.
