As November 30 is the feast day of St. Andrew, the patron saint of Scotland, Starz saw fit to acknowledge the day by sharing a new video featuring star Sam Heughan, who plays Jamie Fraser in the upcoming adaptation of Diana Gabaldon’s popular Outlander series of novels. In it, Heughan takes over for Gaelic expert Adhamh O Broin in giving us a brief lesson in how to speak “Outlander.” The word of the day is Sassenach, which means an English person or foreigner.
Say it with me: Sah-sehn-aechhh.
I’m sorry Jamie Fraser, I couldn’t hear anything over the sound of your piercing stare. What was that? Sassenach?
I suppose we’ll have to get used to the accent of Scottish English and Gaelic, as this series is set in Scotland in the 1700’s. It centers on Claire Randall, a World War II combat nurse who’s on vacation with her husband when she touches a rock and finds herself whisked back in time to war torn Scotland. Fraser is the dreamy warrior Claire encounters and soon forms a relationship, which is kind of complicated when we consider the fact that she has a husband centuries in the future.
With her British background in mind, it seems the term Sassenach would be applicable Claire Randall, who’s played by Caitriona Balfe in the TV series, which is expected to air next year and comes from Battlestar Galactica’s Ronald D. Moore. The series is currently in production in Scotland now.
The above video is the latest bit of teasy content offered by Starz as fans of Gabaldon’s novels eagerly await the story’s adaptation. We saw a photo of Heughan as Jamie Fraser back in October, and the NYCC fan event video had some behind-the-scenes looks at the series in production. And then there’s this photo of Ronald Moore with some heavy metal:
As for those of you who haven’t read the first book in Gabaldon’s series, you might want to get a head start on that as it’s long. But the bright side is, Amazon has it currently on sale for the Kindle for the low price of $2.29.
Here’s a look at the Outlander panel at NYCC in October:
