The Incomer Stars Gleeson & O'Rourke on Scottish Fantasy Comedy

Posted in: Exclusive, Interview, Movies | Tagged: The Incomer

The Incomer Stars Gleeson & O'Rourke on Scottish Fantasy Comedy

The Incomer stars Domhnall Gleeson (The Paper) & Grant O'Rourke (Outlander) spoke to us about the fantasy comedy, Scottish Highlands & more.

Published Sun, 27 Sep 2026 15:46:09 -0500
by Tom Chang
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Article Summary

• Domhnall Gleeson and Grant O’Rourke reveal what drew them to The Incomer’s bold mix of fantasy, comedy, and folklore.
• The Incomer stars discuss Louis Paxton’s assured tone, character development, and building chemistry with Gayle Rankin.
• Filming The Incomer in the Scottish Highlands brought beauty, freezing waters, towering cliffs, and relentless midges.
• Gleeson and O’Rourke break down favorite scenes, including Daniel’s Lord of the Rings riff and the trio’s key table scene.

Domhnall Gleeson (The Paper) and Grant O'Rourke (Outlander) have come a long way in their respective careers, fortunate enough to have such well-rounded careers across all genres, from action, comedy, drama, and fantasy, and having the time of their lives, from the occasional independent projects to the more mainstream. Their latest Sumerian comedy fantasy, The Incomer, is a modern folk fairy tale set on a remote Scottish island, where two siblings (Gayle Rankin and O'Rourke) survive by hunting seabirds, retelling the stories of their ancestors, and defending the isle from dreaded Incomers. Their world is upended with the arrival of an awkward council worker (Gleeson) who has come to uproot them from their homeland on behalf of the government. Gleeson and O'Rourke spoke to Bleeding Cool about working with writer-director Louis Paxton, developing their chemistry alongside Rankin, the challenges of filming in the Scottish Highlands, and diving into their favorite scenes. The following contains minor spoilers.

The Incomer Stars Domhnall Gleeson and Grant O'Rourke on Filming the Comedy Fantasy in the Scottish Highlands, and Camaraderie

Bleeding Cool: What intrigued you about 'The Incomer' and its themes?

Gleeson: Grant, you go, because you were a part of the development.

O'Rourke: Yeah, I am. Louis Paxton, the director and writer, and I have been working together for about 20 years, on and off, and he wrote the first script, the first draft of the screenplay, about 10 to 12 years ago, and brought it to me. He let me feed in some thoughts about character and things, and every draft we saw for about 10 years, he'd let me have a look at it, so I've had a relationship with my character of Sandy for a long time. What attracted me to it, too, was that I felt I was going to die if I didn't get to make it, and there was even a point where I was just like, "They're going to want to get someone famous, Louis," and he was like, "No, I want you to play it," and he held true to that, and I'm grateful.

What about you, Domhnall?

Gleeson: Well, inside the first paragraph, it was very clear that the film knew itself and knew its tone incredibly well. It's a mix of a lot of different things, and that can be a problem, but the tone was so clear, so I felt there was no way this director didn't know what they were doing. It was an opportunity to be in a comedy that I thought could be really meaningful, and all of that ended up working out.

What was it like working with Louie as a creative? What did you enjoy about being in those mountains with Gayle, and what was the most difficult part about being there?

O'Rourke: Well, I think the entire crew and cast struggled with the [Highland] midges, which are these tiny little mosquitoes that are slightly annoying, and they don't kill you. They just land on your face and all over your body. Everyone in the cast and crew had to wear these nets over their head in between takes or off-camera to make sure that they wouldn't get constantly harassed by the midges. As for me, I didn't wear a net. The transitions were what was killing me, so I just stood there naked, unabashed in the face, and let them chomp on me.

Gleeson: You couldn't have been naked. We've talked about this. You should not have been naked. I tried to do it. I tried to put it on. I saw the crew putting on these nets to stop the thing, and I was like, "All right." [O'Rourke laughs] They're like, "Would you like a net?" I'm like, "No, give it to somebody who needs it," so one of the costume girls got this net. We shot the take. They called cut. I said, "GIVE ME A FUCKING NET!" I ripped it all off the costume girl. Yeah, those midges are not messing around.

O'Rourke: I cannot stress enough, by the way, if you stand with your forearms out, the back of your forearm becomes black with midges. There are so many of them. Whatever number you're thinking of, it's more than that- so many [Gleeson laughs].

Gleeson: So that's our answer for all of what it was like to shoot 'The Incomer' [Rourke laughs]

O'Rourke: It was actually gorgeous summer the whole time, so I was a little bit worried about going into the North Sea, but I ended up being so hot that people were like choosing to go and swim in it on their days off. It was lovely, and obviously Louis Paxton is a fun director to work with; he's very gentle, soft-spoken, and he's got a clear idea of what he wants. He also gives you a lot of freedom as an actor to try stuff out as well, so it's a harmonious working relationship, unless he was asking me to go up somewhere high, in which case we argued about that a lot. I had to persuade him not to make me go up too many heights, because all of those cliffs are like 200 feet high and terrifying.

Now, do you see yourselves going remote like that, maybe brief periods of time, or do you like civilization too much?

O'Rourke: I think you miss the option of a jazz bar, not that I would go to a jazz bar, but I like to have the option. The small-town thing- what, the very north of Scotland in Caithness, where we filmed- the nicest thing about it is that the people there are extremely friendly and are like, "We'll stop and chat to you on the street," if they see that you're a stranger, so they were quite lovely, and it was nice to be a part of the community for a small while, even for six weeks.

Aside from the script, did you guys have any additional inspiration to help you guys get into the headspaces of Daniel and Sandy?

Gleeson: The script was so well written; it knew itself so well. It was like you're turning up, and what you're looking for is to create an energy with the other actors, to make sure that you're not just there doing the lines, but that you are actually having a conversation. You're bouncing off each other in a way that creates energy, so there wasn't a lot of ad-libbing. There wasn't a lot of extra stuff. It was more like we were all playing the same game and just trying to play it as hard as we could, and that was a joy, but you can feel that energy on screen. I don't think it's like a feel-good movie in the classic sense, but it makes me feel good to watch it, and all the audiences we've shown it to in Sundance, Edinburgh, and everywhere- that's what you feel. There's joy in the audience afterward, so I think it worked out pretty well.

Domhnall, I had to wonder: how many takes, and how did you approach describing 'Lord of the Rings' as Daniel to both Isla and Sandy in the scene?

Gleeson: We didn't do like a load of takes, but that was the only thing that I went back and forth with Louis on in the script because it was supposed just to be 'Lord of the Rings,' basically, as 'Lord of the Rings,' and then because of parody law and all the rest of it, we had to make sure that it was also more clearly about Daniel and set in an office and that coming in. I went back and forth with Louis on that, which was really good fun, because the idea is, it just strikes me that he's like a five-year-old. When my nephew is telling stories, he's so excited, and he's so enthusiastic; more than the words, that's what's enjoyable about it. That was where we were trying to get, and it was great fun.

Did you have a personal favorite scene that you shot in the film?

O'Rourke: Oh, one of my favorite scenes is the table scene with the three of us, because it was a long scene to shoot, and it was also Domhnall's first day. Gayle and I had two days together by that point, so it was nice to be able to start the relationship between the three of us in a really confined setting where it was just about dialogue and listening to each other, and playing a great, well-written scene. I think it translates into the film as well. It was real, and a pleasure to do, but also a pleasure to watch as well.

Gleeson: I would agree. That was a very nerve-racking day, but it felt like the end of the day that we'd got it, which is not always the case. It's a great first day when you feel you got it. When you watch it with a crowd, you can feel like, "Oh, we did it right."

The Incomer, which also stars Emun Elliot, Michelle Gomez, and John Hannah, is in theaters on September 25th.

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