All season, Outlander: Blood of My Blood fans have waited for Brian and Ellen to finally be together. And in the finale, they got their wish—but not without some serious complications along the way. The episode starts with Brian running from literal assassins, continues with him having to kill Malcolm Grant in the halls of Castle Leoch before they're able to escape, and ends with him being called to war. Meanwhile, the unintentional consequence of their escape is that Dougal has to marry Maura Grant. It's a lot!
The actors behind the two, Harriet Slater and Jamie Roy, sat down with Cosmopolitan on the set of Blood of My Blood season 2 in Scotland to talk through it all—why Ellen really decides to leave her family behind, how the audience should feel about Malcolm Grant now, and whether it's hypocritical for their characters to force Dougal into marriage.
I want to talk about the conversation Ellen has with Colum. Brian has come to rescue her, and she obviously wants to go with him, but that conversation with her brother really seals the deal. Why do you think that is?
HS: She's already decided before that conversation that she is going to go with Brian. But she's holding onto a tiny bit of hope that some ounce of the relationship with Colum that she used to have can be resurrected. She wants him to confess. She feels so betrayed by him, because obviously he said, I'll kill him if you don't break up with him, basically. And she trusted that, so she broke up with him, which broke both their hearts and was the most painful thing she's ever done, but she thought she was doing it to protect him. So when she finds out that Colum sent the Galloglass anyway, that's the ultimate betrayal. And in a way, it makes it easier to go, because she's got nothing to stay for now. She gives him the opportunity to tell the truth and he doesn't.
It's not like he didn't have a chance to own up to it.
HS: Yeah. That's what Ellen is referring to later in the bothy, and Brian says, it'll be hard for you leaving everything behind. And she says, I'll remember the good and close the door on the bad. That makes it easier to do that, the fact that Colum has betrayed her so deeply and isn't ready to be honest with her about it.
I was very surprised to see Jocasta jump in and help Brian. Why do you think she trusts Brian?
JR: It's a very good question. Brian literally says to her, you have no reason to trust me, but you know I wouldn't be here without the right reasons. Brian just such a stand-up, earnest, honest guy for the most part—apart from him lying to his best friend for like, three quarters of the season—but she sees the earnestness in Brian. She's clever, so I feel like she could put the pieces together. And she's like, Okay, this is someone who really, actually cares for Ellen.
HS: It's lucky Ellen made that apology actually, because they weren't friends before that moment.
Why did they wait so long to leave the castle that day? I wanted to yell at my TV, get out of there!
HS: She just really wants to wear that bonnet.
JR: We just really wanted to be in that little linen closet.
HS: They're relying on Mrs. Fitz and Jocasta to come and tell them when is a good moment to leave, and it's when everybody is together in the hall... and drunk.
How do you think the audience is supposed to feel about Malcolm Grant at the end of the finale? I did feel a little bad for him.
HS: He's been so sweet the whole season. He's such a nice guy. He's lovely, but he's not the one for her. I felt bad for him, until his Uncle Malcolm makes him evil. From what we see of Malcolm just in that episode, I think he had the potential to go there, because he's hurt. He's in so much pain. He initially says, don't talk about her like that. He's still being really protective of her. And it's Uncle Malcolm that turns him vengeful.
JR: It's really gonna split people. I think some people are gonna be Team Brian and some Team Malcolm. He didn't deserve that, but we gave him the opportunity to back down.
Tell me about filming that fight scene, because we don't get a ton of those kinds of scenes in this season.
JR: We worked with Dominic Preece, our stunt coordinator, and we quickly realized that this fight was quite uneven, because Brian can hold himself more than Malcolm can. So any fight that was going to happen, it would have to be more or less one-sided. Brian gives an opportunity for him to back off, because it's not going to end well. And then he goes for the killing blow. Malcolm's ruined Brian's favorite jacket, he's taken a slash. Brian sees that he's like, alright, mate, I can't let you go now. You've ruined my favorite jacket and well, now you have to die.
How do both your characters process his death? What's that reflection like?
JR: It's really tough for Brian, because he hasn't killed anyone. This was a discussion I had with Azhur Saleem, our director. We see him kill a couple assassins at the top of the episode. With those guys, it wasn't too much of a stretch, because they were bad people. But with Malcolm, he's not necessarily a bad guy. He had to do what he had to do, and that weighs really, really heavy on him. Hopefully he doesn't turn into a bloodthirsty fiend after this. We'll see.
There was something ironic about the Maura and Dougal marriage, because in trying to escape a marriage that Ellen doesn't want, they inadvertently force someone else into a marriage that they don't want. Do you think your characters thought about that? Or will?
HS: Ellen is slightly hypocritical the whole of season 1, because she did have a hand in both of her sisters' marriages, and yet is saying, I don't want to marry for the sake of the clan. She acknowledges that when she apologizes to Jocasta. She's so angry at Dougal, as well as Colum, that she feels a bit smug that he now has to experience what she has been having to experience for months.
Your characters have created, in the span of an episode or two, quite a few enemies. Who do you think will prove to be the most problematic going into season 2?
JR: The way that we see Uncle Malcolm, how ruthless he can be, I think there might be something to be said about that.
HS: Your character's dad, as well (Lord Lovat).
JR: Oh yeah, can't forget him. He's always a problem. And the thing is, we know from Outlander that he doesn't go anywhere. We're gonna have to deal with him for a while.
