Starz's world of 18th century Scotland will soon return with the premiere of Outlander: Blood of My Blood in the 2025 TV schedule. While at least some of the action will be set in the 20th century with Claire's parents, a time travel twist will bring them back in time to encounter Jamie's family members in their own time. Fans of the early seasons of Outlander may remember that scenes set in 18th century Scotland can mean a whole lot of warriors wearing kilts, and Blood of My Blood viewers can expect more of the same in the prequel.
When I spoke with cast members of the upcoming series, they weighed in on the perks of the garment, and reminded me of one thing Sam Heughan didn't like about filming the original series in the kilt.
What Sam Heughan Said About Filming In A Kilt
Now, to be clear, Sam Heughan has said far more good things than bad about wearing a kilt to play Jamie Fraser, and shared why he'd missed wearing it after story reasons meant the Scots couldn't wear their traditional tartan for a time. Co-star Duncan LaCroix (who played the original Murtagh) echoed the sentiment, saying it was "incredibly comfortable to wear and quite very practical" for battle scenes. That said, Heughan did once share one very specific way that wearing a kilt could be horrible for filming Outlander, telling People:
When you sit down on the wet grass and you forget to do the little flick — it’s your bare ass on the ground! Oh, it’s horrible.
If he had one "horrible" thing he could name back in 2016 compared to many more "great benefits" when filming in a kilt, then I'd say Outlander's wardrobe choices were a hit for its leading man. Plus, Heughan literally went on to star in a travel series called Men in Kilts alongside former Outlander co-star Graham McTavish! And that brings me to what the Blood of My Blood actors told me ahead of the upcoming premiere of their prequel series.
What The Blood Of My Blood Cast Told Me About Kilts
I was fortunate enough to speak with the stars of Outlander: Blood of My Blood during San Diego Comic-Con, with Hermione Corfield even sharing how paparazzi almost spoiled the series' big time travel twist. Three of the actors who will be playing 18th century Highlanders had plenty to say about wearing kilts, and it turns out that they could relate to what Sam Heughan and Duncan LaCroix said years earlier. Sam Retford, who plays the young Dougal MacKenzie, shared:
It's an extremely practical piece of clothing, especially when you're running around and rolling around. You can hide things in it. You can hide yourself in it. You can sleep in it. It's fantastic.
Those perks certainly can't be said about most items of clothing nowadays! (I for one count myself lucky if I can find a dress with pockets.) Rory Alexander, who plays the younger version of Outlander's fan favorite, picked up where Retford left off:
Extremely multi-use. When you see us with the kilt and the plaid with the full thing, that all used to be one piece of cloth, and you could use it as a blanket and a pillow and a bag. So it's a fantastic piece of clothing.
The kilt having plenty of fantastic uses doesn't mean that the garment was easy for the actors to master right off the bat, as Sam Retford went on to admit. Even now that the cast is in the midst of filming Season 2 thanks to the very early renewal, he isn't yet an expert at donning the tartan. He shared:
It's an odd thing starting the day. I still can't put my kilt on on my own, so you have to lie down on the floor of a trailer. You get wrapped up like a burrito every day, like a baby being swaddled, and then you have to go and pretend to be an adult while at work after that, which is tricky.
The situation is a bit different for Seamus McClean Ross, who plays the young version of Colum MacKenzie. The Outlander version of the character, played by Gary Lewis, had a shorter tenure as part of the cast than either Dougal or Murtagh, but Outlander also guarantees that Colum can stick around just as long as any of the others.
That said, Ross alluded to the condition that often kept Colum off his feet on the original series when he explained the younger version's wardrobe choices, saying:
My character, he wears a kilt in the early parts of the show, but he kind of purposely chooses not to, to kind of be seen as a more kind of political figure. The kilt is a kind of more like a fighting man's attire. Colum is forced to be behind the scenes, kind of conducting things politically.
These three won't be the only ones wearing tartan in the new show with what seems to be the majority of the scenes set in the 18th century. That of course depends on when the time travel twist that brings Julia a couple hundred years back in time takes place, but the trailer offers some clues. Take a look:
Outlander: Blood of My Blood arrives on Starz with two back-to-back episodes on Friday, August 8 starting at 8 p.m. ET. With the first footage of Outlander Season 8 also confirming that the original series won't be back with its final season until 2026, Blood of My Blood can still take viewers back to the world of Claire and Jamie... just a generation earlier than the original.
You must confirm your public display name before commenting
Please logout and then login again, you will then be prompted to enter your display name.
