The Women of ‘Outlander: Blood of My Blood’ Are Finally Driving the Story

Going into season two for both of you, what are you most excited about for your character?

If one thing is clear by the midway point of Outlander: Blood of My Blood season 2, it’s that, as the song would say, the sisters are doing it for themselves. Episode 3 follows Ellen as she defends her family home from a rival clan, relying on her own wit and impressive bow and arrow skills to make it happen. Episode 4 sees Julia escape Castle Leathers to make her way back to Henry—disguised as a man, no less—after learning he’s made it back to the 1700s. The romances remain central, but with the men at war, the women are driving the story.

Stars Hermione Corfield (Julia) and Harriet Slater (Ellen) sat down with Cosmo to talk through how the women have stepped up this season, how their characters are on mirrored journeys even if they’re not together onscreen, and whether Ellen and Julia will get to reunite yet this season.

HS: I had a lot of fun on episode 3, which I can talk about now. Ellen usually spends most of the time with the men in the series, usually Brian or her brothers, whereas episode three was great because I got to hang out with the girls and kick some ass and learn how to use a bow and arrow. It is a lot harder than it looks. I kept getting bruises on my arms because the string, if it tings at the wrong angle, you end up bruised.

HC: I think the womanhood is really nice this season. We see a little bit more of Davina and Julia's relationship. They form a bond over something that Julia has to do later in the season. I'm excited for people to see Julia fight back as well. Ellen physically fights back. Julia finds a way to physically fight back, which is quite fun.

The decision-making power really shifts to the women this season. How do you see that difference between season 1 and 2?

HC: It's the men going to war. You remove the men in the same way as World War II and World War I in Europe, and women had to take on other male roles. That's definitely what happens in the Mackenzie household. And for Julia, it's actually quite a good thing because Lovat's out of her hair.

HS: I don't think we ever really saw Ellen and Julia physically fight in season one, but they have to in season 2 because the men aren't there to protect them, so they are literally fending for themselves.

What do you think these two women have in common this season?

HC: They've both got a lot to lose. For Ellen, she’s got Brian and like their love has become a reason for everything. And Julia's has always been Henry and getting back to Claire, so they're on a similar plane in that respect. The stakes are high because of the war, but also because they've found the love of their life, and Julia's continuing to try and get back to hers.

HS: Death is literally around the corner for any of the characters, so it really puts into perspective what is important. Season one was different for Ellen because her relationship with Brian was so new, and it was like a young, innocent, excited, passionate love. Whereas season two it feels more like they've had to grow up quickly. But it also feels like they're more of a team in season two.

Jamie McCarthy

Watching each other's story arcs for the season, is there anything that you were a little bit jealous the other one got to do?

HC: One hundred percent, because in episode three, Ellen gets to hang out with a whole group of girls.

HS: I'm actually kind of envious you got to dress as a boy. To wear a pair of trousers when you're used to wearing those really heavy skirts. I'm not kidding.

Episode three did feel really different for the show in the way in that you don't see that with that many women together in one episode. What did you think when you first read it, Harriet?

HS: Showrunner Matthew B. Roberts pitched it to me as Home Alone, but with knives. Hello, I'm in. I felt like I was just playing for three weeks or however long it took to shoot. Especially those sequences, like up in the belfry with the bats. Learning choreography for fight sequences was something that I had never done before on this show. I think it's really cool to see that side of the women because we see in flashbacks with Ellen and her father that she did learn how to fight, quote unquote, like a man, but she's never had the opportunity to use those skills.

What do you think it is about Ellen that allows these women to trust her and let her be a leader?

HS: She just naturally is a leader, and always has been, whether her brothers like it or not. She has this idea of how to protect Clan Mackenzie against the uprising. Her decision to go back to Leoch is in part to protect Brian, because she knows that if they continue on the run, they will be on the run for the rest of their lives. But also that she has this plan to put Castle Leoch and all its lands in her name, so if the Jacobites lose, the crown can't seize the castle and the lands because it's all in the name of a woman.

I remember watching and wishing Julia had been there, too!

HC: She would have loved to be there. She'd have been making a concoction or something to drop on people's heads.

Sadly, Ellen's sister dies in episode 3, as well. How do you think that will play out in her actions for the rest of the season?

HS: It's just yet more loss, and that seems to be a theme of this season. With the rebellion in the background, the potential to lose what's important to you is ever-present. I really want to answer that, but it's like going to ruin episodes 6 and 7. But it definitely has a lasting impression on her, and we see her promise to give Janet's name to her baby.

Julia has a tricky job in the first few episodes of the season, because she has to pretend that she was kidnapped when she wasn't. Hermione, as the actor portraying her, how do you balance her trying to pull off this lie versus the emotional truth of what she's going through?

HC: It's hard to strike that balance of a manipulating lover whilst also playing the reality of her emotional truth. Where we find her beginning of season two, she is at her worst, rock bottom. As the season progresses, it was a thing of her recalibrating. It's the challenge of the time travel aspect, as well. There's so many things going on for Julia at once. The only time we really see her in her element is the ‘20s.

Jamie McCarthy

But she does find an ally in Davina, which was a nice surprise. What do you think that does for her as a character going forward?

HC: That scene where she's honest about the time travel was a big one for her. The first season, she's just working out exactly what is going on. Once she realizes she can trust Davina, she goes, okay, I have to share this information because the attempt to leave hasn't worked. She's back to square one, and she can't do it alone.

Julia and Henry are reunited for a brief period of time. The fans have been waiting for her to confront him about sleeping with Seema. How did it feel to play that out?

HC: In Australia, when we were doing a Q&A, someone started shouting, ‘Don't forgive him!’ Julia’s struggle is understanding that he's got serious PTSD and mental health problems, but he still slept with someone else. That can't take away from the hurt. They've reached a reconciliation, but she almost parks it and goes, in this very moment, I have to have you as mine, for herself more than anything. It’s to remind herself what it is to sleep with someone that's not Lovat. That was the way I made sense of being that hurt, and also still being able to be physical with someone at that time.

Is that the end of the conversation? Is that forgiveness from her, or is there more fallout to come?

HC: There's more fallout to come in terms of Seema. That is not over. Yeah, I would say that that continues to develop.

I want to talk about Ellen's reveal that she's pregnant. She chooses to tell Brian right before the battle. Why do you think she picks that moment?

HS: They don't know what's going to happen the next day. She's desperately hoping that he makes it back, but she doesn't know that, and so I think she wants to share that with him while she can and have a moment together to celebrate. It's a reassurance to Brian that he hasn't just given up everything for nothing. She's asking him why he gave up everything for something that's not yet solid, but then she decides to tell him that actually it is solid. They are a family now, and so he did the right thing.

We end episode four with both the men going off to war and leaving you both behind. What do you think is going through their heads in that moment?

HC: War's been a big shadow in Julia and Henry’s lives. So I think she's like, crap. We're back here again, just in a different century. But it can be used to their advantage in terms of him sneaking off with Lovat being away from home. On the one hand it's pretty triggering, on the other hand it could be useful for their strategy.

HS: I think Ellen is stressed because it's not only that she might lose him; it's also that their child might grow up without a father if he doesn't come home. So the stakes couldn't be any higher. She's, yeah, just desperately hoping that he makes it back in one piece.

You guys don’t have any scenes together in the first block. Do your characters reunite this season? What can you tease?

HC: Oh yeah, we do. We have quite an interesting night together. Oh no, that sounds sexual.

HS: It's not sexual in the slightest. It's actually traumatic.

HC: We have quite a crazy night together. We both get pulled into someone else's malicious behavior.