In Outlander, Claire and Jamie’s daughter Brianna was named after her paternal grandfather, Brian Fraser. But in the prequel Blood of My Blood, it’s Ellen MacKenzie—Brianna’s grandmother—who shines through the most. From her looks to her personality, Ellen is the one Brianna resembles most. And in the series premiere, Harriet Slater quickly shows where Brianna’s fierce, independent spirit truly comes from.
Slater revealed that she didn’t revisit the original Outlander series after landing the role. Instead, she chose to channel familiar characters connected to Ellen: Brianna, played by Sophie Skelton, and Jenny Fraser, portrayed first by Laura Donnelly and later by Kristin Atherton.
“I wouldn’t say that I took any traits or tried to mimic them, but I definitely absorbed the energy of Brianna and Jenny as well, and was really inspired by both of those performances,” Slater told Town & Country.
Rather than copying either character, Slater used them as touchstones. For her, Ellen is a woman torn between obligations and emotions. “She’s torn and being pulled in so many different directions and it’s a really tough situation for her to be in. It’s kind of exhausting at times…but she also wants to honor her clan,” Slater explained. “Her father meant so much to her, and she wants to protect his legacy and protect the family.”
Jamie Roy, who plays Brian Fraser, also approached his role with fresh eyes. He was asked not to imitate Sam Heughan’s version of Jamie, Ellen’s future son. “They really wanted Brian to be his own character,” Roy said, noting that showrunner Matthew B. Roberts told him not to study Heughan’s performance.
Still, fans immediately noticed similarities. “When people saw that bridge scene clip, they were like, ‘Oh my god, Jamie Roy must have worked so hard to match these mannerisms.’ And I was like, that was just totally organic. Good casting. Very lucky,” he shared.
Like Slater, Roy didn’t binge-watch Outlander to prepare. He admitted he had only seen a few episodes before auditioning. But both actors were aware of the high expectations that came with portraying characters who had never been seen onscreen.
“The only pressure is in wanting to look after these characters that mean so much to people,” Slater said. “There’s freedom in the fact that we haven’t actually seen a huge amount of Brian, and we’ve not seen anything of Ellen. So there’s a certain amount of freedom to create the characters ourselves.”
Outlander: Blood of My Blood airs Fridays at 8 p.m. on Starz.