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Outlander is one of the few shows on television bold enough to show the darker side of sex. Even as it woos us with steamy and romantic love scenes, Outlander directly confronts the horrors of sexual violence.
Towards the end of last season, we watched in horror as the villainous Jonathan “Black Jack” Randall (Tobias Menzies) raped and tortured the show’s hero Jamie Fraser (Sam Heughan). Though his physical scars are healing, Jamie is still haunted by the psychological trauma of the ordeal. This season has tackled this upsetting journey with unusual frankness and sensitivity. However, Jamie isn’t the only victim of sexual violence on Outlander. On last week’s episode, Claire (Caitriona Balfe) and her friend Mary Hawkins were attacked in the streets of Paris — and Mary’s virginity was savagely taken from her.
We asked the stars of Outlander how they personally felt about the show’s approach to the controversial topic.
“With those particular scenes, you do want to make sure that it’s not being gratuitous or it’s not being sensationalized,” Balfe told us. “We are living in the story. It’s a very dangerous time. Sexual violence was used as a weapon and still is.”
For Menzies, who plays the violator, he wanted to shift it away from just the physical and into the emotional. He said, “I was really keen to make that as emotional, as psychological, as I could.”
“I think absolutely that those events really feed into who Jamie becomes as a character,” Heughan added.
A brand new episode of Outlander airs tonight at 9 PM ET on Starz. Click here for all things Outlander.
