‘Outlander: Blood of My Blood’ Star Jamie Roy Calls Brian Fraser the “Superman of the 18th Century”: “He Always Tries To Do The Right Thing”

Outlander: Blood of My Blood introduces us to the man who gave us Sam Heughan‘s James Alexander Malcolm MacKenzie Fraser in the first place: Brian Fraser (Jamie Roy). While we’ve heard for ages about Jamie’s brilliant and charismatic mother Ellen (Harriet Slater), Brian is a tiny bit more of a mystery. Even though we met an older version of him in various Outlander flashbacks, we knew very little of the bold young man who managed to woo the beloved daughter of rival Clan MacKenzie.

In Starz’s Blood of My Blood, we learn that Brian is the bastard son of the vile Lord Lovat (Tony Curran) and his chambermaid Davina Porter (Sara Vickers). However, for all that the world, and his own father, discounts him, the handsome young highlander is blessed with kindness, strength, and courage.

“He really is the Superman of the 18th century,” Blood of My Blood star Jamie Roy told DECIDER over Zoom yesterday. “He always tries to do the right thing, make the right choice, be the best person he can be.”

In just the first four episodes of Outlander: Blood of My Blood, we’ve watched as Brian has protected Julia Moriston (Hermione Corfield) from his father’s wrath, enchanted the headstrong Ellen MacKenzie with his charm, and looked out for his own mother.

However, as Roy admitted to DECIDER, Brian’s romance with Ellen puts him in uncharted moral territory. Not only are their families sworn enemies, but Brian’s best friend Murtagh (Rory Alexander) is also in love with Ellen. “He has to lie to his best friend every single day,” Roy said. “And that’s really, really tough.”

Roy also broke down for us exactly what’s at the genesis of Brian and Ellen’s attraction, how much or little Lord Lovat has influenced his son’s development, and, yes, what it’s like filming a scene with that dastardly laird sitting on the Castle Leathers dining room toilet…

DECIDER: The show just came out a couple of weeks ago so I’m curious, what has been your first impression of the fans first impressions of Blood of My Blood?

JAMIE ROY: I was actually super nervous to see what it would be like. Obviously, we watched the premiere with people; we had a couple of screenings where we watched it with some press and things. So it was really quite nerve-wracking to see what all the fans and everyone else thought about it on a much grander scale. And it’s been amazing. It’s been so great to see so many people really enjoying it — new Outlander fans as well as the existing fan base — which has been great. I mean that’s really what we wanted to do. You know, we wanted to give something back to the original fans who have been with us for so long, but then also create something new. And it’s been really, really nice to see all the lovely, thoughtful messages, the comments, and posts, and things like that. Yeah. Yeah, it’s it’s been really, really lovely.

One thing I find really fascinating is getting to know more about Brian Fraser and his background and how he has been influenced by being the bastard son of the lecherous Lord Lovat. It seems interesting to me that he doesn’t have a lot of his father’s personality traits. I wonder if any part of being illegitimate gives him the freedom to therefore reject parts of his father? I’m curious what you make of his steadfastness in being kind in a way that Lord Lovat is not.

Yeah, I think it’s really interesting because, you know, he has these two patents. You know, he’s got Davina and then obviously Lord Lovat. And I think Davina is the one, that she’s taught him how to love. How she’s done that growing up, I’m not sure, but she must have done a great job because Lovat is not a nice man. So I think inherently he has a real good, good heart. You know, he always wants to do the best thing. And when he sees Lovat, I think what he sees as a father figure, you know, we’ll see throughout the season him kind of try and reach his father and then try and turn him to towards the light side, so to speak in Jedi language. [Chuckling] But I think what he sees in Lovat is everything that he doesn’t want to be in a man. Brian’s quite ahead of his time in terms of the way that women are treated. And he sees how his father treats women, which is, a great example of his goodness. We see in Episode 2 when he takes the blame for Julia trying to escape, that’s something he’s learned from his mom. He sees how women are treated, like I said, he doesn’t want that to happen. So, yeah, as a guideline, anything that Lovat does, Brian doesn’t want to do.

I want to talk about when Brian first meets Ellen. It’s very interesting to me because it seems like love at first sight. I’m curious how much of their romance that you think is initially just based on physical attraction, or do you think there’s something more where he can intuit her fiery nature or her intelligence? Because they don’t meet very long before they decide to be all in.

No, I know they don’t. It moves very, very quickly. But that was a choice that we did on purpose because we know these characters get together. So instead of dragging out seeing them get together, we want to really get them together and then to see the story of how they actually get [together forever]. Okay, so we made this promise to each other, but then how do we go from there? How do we move forward? ‘Cause we have all these obstacles in the way, Matthew B. Roberts thought would be more interesting to see the how these two characters navigate these obstacles.

I always relate it to like you know when you meet someone and obviously you judge them, you see how they look, and that’s one thing. But certain people have energies, you know? And you just automatically know if you’re going to vibe with someone or not. And I think Brian and Ellen are two kindred spirits. When they first see each other in that stable, they’ve only said a couple of lines to each other, but those are the two lines that they’re like, “Wait, hold on. This is different from anything that I would have expected. Let me have a little look at you.” Then when you put those two and two together, they see each other. Obviously, you know, Ellen’s beautiful and Ellen thinks Brian’s beautiful, but there is that energy between them where they’re like, “Oh.” They’re kind of sussing each other out. And I do think at that moment they realize they’re both in the stables for a reason. They’re both outcasts in their own respective ways. So it’s really nice to see them finding themselves alone instead of like across the room at a party or something like that. It’s when they’re alone as they are. So I think there’s that energy.

I love the Romeo and Juliet energy of them when they discover that they’re from different families, there’s that pickle. But I feel like for Brian, he’s got an extra pickle in that Murtaugh, his best friend, is in love with Ellen. How do you feel about his choice to not even, like, hint to his friend he’s met her? Because the longer he keeps that secret, the worse the reveal is going to be.

Oh, man, yeah. Well, it’s so interesting because it goes against everything that Brian is a person. Like he really is the Superman of the 18th century. He always tries to do the right thing, make the right choice, be the best person he can be. Then right at the heart of everything is he has to lie to his best friend every single day. And that’s really, really tough. But ultimately, you know, his heart is pulling in both ways. It’s pulling on a sense of duty and right and doing what’s right, which would be to tell Murtagh. But then his heart’s also telling him that this is the love of your life and you’ll never find someone else like this ever, ever again. Ultimately, it’s that which prevails in this kind of tug of war in his heart. Because Brian doesn’t really want anything, and this is the first time where he’s found himself wanting again. Ultimately, you know, love overrules all.

Speaking of Murtagh, I talked to Rory and he not only wants to see some Brian/Murtagh mashups out there on the internet like a bromance thing, but he kind of hinted that they’re hiding why exactly he got Castle Leathers and how your relationship began. Can you give me any hints to where that friendship, that bond grew from those boys and what it’s meant for Brian to have Murtaugh, and what means for you to have Rory on set for this kind of relationship?

Honestly, I feel like Brian and Murtagh and Jamie and Rory are just all of the same people. Because they literally are, you know, very much like that in real life and we are brothers. I think, in terms of the story, it is really important that Brian has Murtagh there because there’s not much to do at Leathers. You know, Brian hasn’t really got much going for him in the sense that he’s stuck in this… You know I love that opening shot where we see Leathers as it is, and it’s like in the middle of nowhere. It’s this bad and a horrible place. So to have Murtagh, who kind of hangs about out there as well with Brian, I think that’s great for him because otherwise I think Brian would go a little bit mad. But also it’s nice because Murtagh really understands the things that Brian has to go through with his father, with this relationship. And if Murtagh hadn’t been there, it’d be really interesting because I think maybe Brian might be dead at this point. Because I think Murtagh’s one of these common forces for Brian to be like, “Hey, I know you’re a steadfast guy…” But, you know, he talks him down off ledges often. Yeah, and my relationship with Rory is much the same.

When I got to go visit the set last summer, they pointed out the toilet off the dining room in Castle Leathers and I’ve seen some scenes where Lord Lovat is on there. What is it like to work with Tony Curran when he’s on his proverbial throne? Because I could imagine that just changes the dynamics so much.

It’s so funny. Tony’s a laugh. He’s great and he’s nothing like Lord Lovat. You know, he plays this horrible, horrible character. You watch him and you’re just like, “Ugh.” Whether it’s the greasy hair or just his mannerisms and all that. But Tony himself, you know, when they call cut and he’s back to talking about and stuff like that.

You know, it’s funny, I haven’t I haven’t told anyone this yet, but in Episode 3, when Brian and Murtagh are reporting to Lord Lovat, he’s on the toilet. I know in the cut, they put in the sound effects, which are just horrendous, of him going to the bathroom. But on the day, Tony made the noises himself. And I don’t think he was told to. I think he did this just on his own, just to try and mess with me and Rory. So he’d be in the middle of a line and he’d make this noise like, “[squelching noise]” And Rory and I are, like, trying so hard not to laugh. The camera’s on us, but he’s saying his lines over there. “Okay, we’ve got like, three seconds to get back to normal.” And we stand back, and then we’re like, “Oh, yeah, reporting, reporting, reporting.” And then like, burst out laughing. Then back to reporting. I actually think in the episode, if you look really carefully, one of Rory’s lines, he kind of says it with a little bit of a chuckle. I think he says like, “He beat Malcolm Grant to a pulp,” or something. He kind of says it with a chuckle. And it definitely wasn’t a funny line, but I think that was some of this energy which was building up between us. So that was quite a funny wee day.

This interview has been edited and formatted for clarity.