SPOILER ALERT: This interview contains spoilers from “The Happiest Place on Earth,Season 7, Episode 2 of “Outlander,” now airing on Starz.
As an epic explosion at Frasier’s Ridge seem As the most shocking event so far this season on “Outlander,” the Starz series also managed to contain a shocking reveal, a bittersweet birth, and the show’s most heartbreaking goodbye to date.
Moments in “The Happiest Place on Earth,” the mystery of who actually killed Malva (Jessica Reynolds) is finally solved. Although Tom Christie (Mark Lewis Jones) took responsibility for murdering his daughter to save Claire (Caitriona Balfe) from the noose, it was actually his son Allan (Alexander Vlahos) who did it. Claire tries to stop the grief-stricken Allan from killing himself but Ian (John Bell) appears and shoots her with an arrow – stating that Allan’s actions killed an unborn child and for that he can’t live.
On a slightly happier note, Frasier’s Ridge welcomes its new resident, Brianna (Sophie Skelton) and Roger’s (Richard Rankin) daughter, Amanda. But it doesn’t take long before Claire notices that the child has a life-threatening heart condition. With this discovery comes the realization that Bri, Roger, and their children must travel to the future where modern medicine can save Amanda – and also potentially never see Claire and Jamie again.
As the MacKenzie family travels back in time to the 1980s, Claire and Jamie (Sam Heughan) try to settle into their new normal. It doesn’t take long before trouble sets in. Time-traveling companion Wendigo Donner breaks into Claire’s operating room to steal gems so he can return home. As he and his crew search for more, they drop ether on the ground. With an unfortunate strike from the game, Claire and Jamie’s life at Frasier’s Ridge is ignited.
Variety spoke with Balfe, Heughan, Skelton and Rankin about their families’ possible separation forever and what fans can expect for the two couples this season.
This week’s episode, “The Happiest Place On Earth,” features a devastating parting of ways. These two families, the Frasiers and the MacKenzies, will be separated by hundreds of years, and right after Brianna gives birth to her daughter, Amanda. How does that rank in terms of sad goodbyes on the show, which are sadly commonplace?
CATRIONA BALFE: I think the joy and the absolute thrill of Brianna having a new child, and everyone being able to be there for this new life that is coming into the family – it was so high. And then for the fear and worry to come when they realize there’s actually something wrong with Mandy, and the implications of that and what that means. There was really only one way, and that was for them to come back to save her. But he’s dead. It’s like they know it’s the last goodbye, or they think it’s the last goodbye.
Saying goodbye that way, I think that’s where we start to see Jamie and Claire being so vulnerable. They’re left, and those are the only things, really, they have – it’s just the two together. This goodbye was really sad. And that just meant that we hadn’t worked with Richard and Sophie for ages.
LAW. The show could go so many places, but right now your characters are separated and who knows if they will reunite.
RICHARD RANK : It’s been such a long process to get to this point – for our characters, for ourselves, for the show – for everyone to be united and to be a strong, united front. Then having to turn around and say goodbye, and finally go back to the future. I think [Roger and Brianna] had very much accepted the 18th century as their home. When they got spat on the stones [in Season 6]they were like, “We belong here. Our family is here. Our life is here. We can really be happy here. There’s a place for us here.
So to go through this whole character journey and experience all of this, and come to this resolve and then have to go back anyway, that was tough.
SOPHIE SKETON: The goodbye scene was really hard, but I think the hardest scene was actually just the scene where they find Mandy. I mean, it was absolutely heartbreaking. For them to leave – I mean, Brianna loses her support system. Hearing that your child might be near death is hard enough. And then having to leave people who you think are actually going to get you through this is horrible.
But Brianna and Roger as a couple are stronger than they’ve ever been. So I think they feel a sense of strength in each other as they leave. The goodbye scene was difficult to film, but there is also an urgency for Roger and Brianna. They’ve gone into survival mode now. They have to protect their child. They know they have to go back. It’s not even a question. So saying goodbye is one thing, and it really is goodbye forever as far as they’re concerned. But there is also an urgency at play. So it’s quite interesting to integrate that into the characters, into the scene. You know, really wanting to take your time to say goodbye to people you’ll never see again, but also knowing that you just need to get back as soon as possible.
And in terms of filming, you’ve all been separated and who knows when you might to be on set again together.
RANK : say goodbye to [Balfe and Heughan] and knowing that yes, there could very well be plenty of time [before filming again] — because at that point, we weren’t even really sure that Season 8 was going to happen. It could potentially have been THE goodbye then.
BALFE: It even means our time outside of work, where we would all have spent much more time – when we have free time, they are at work; and they have free time, we are at work. So it’s been a long time since we’ve been dating and we haven’t really seen each other. It was as if ships were passing in the night after spending so many years being so close. It was really difficult.
How will the loss of Bri and Roger and the loss of their home affect Jamie and Claire’s relationship?
SAT HEUGHAN: They lost their home, Fraiser’s Ridge. They lost their family. And now all they really have is each other, and also I guess this new nation that’s forming and they want to do the right thing for the next generation. But one without the other, they are nothing. I especially think of Jamie, as he says several times in the series, he is very aware of the loss of Claire. He knows he can’t survive without her. This separation therefore makes them stronger, but there is also a lot more to lose.
BALFE: Touching on something you just said – Brianna and Roger and Jem and Mandy, they may not be with them, but it’s this idea of how can they help this country that they live in and what they do part to be the best. It’s what really gives them so much strength in all of these battles and really propels them forward to try and do whatever they can to make sure the story plays out the way Claire knows it.
How will Bri cope without her mom by her side, especially now that she’s a new mom herself?
SKELETON : I think Brianna has always been a very self-sufficient human. She had a difficult upbringing. I think she felt very alone in her upbringing and very ostracized by her mother. I think she used to resent her mother for that. Brianna hasn’t really seen her mother. I think one thing that’s great about Brianna and Claire is the line of communication that’s been opened up. Brianna is now equipped with the knowledge of what it’s like to be a working mom and how to navigate it. I think she’s had enough of Claire ingrained in her since birth, just in her genes, but also through the upbringing and conversations they’ve had. Claire is so ingrained in her now that she’s also the voice in her head. I think between Brianna’s own resilience anyway and the hindsight of seeing how Claire handled family life and work, Brianna is well equipped to pull through. She has her family around her, her children and her husband. She is loaded with everything she needs to find her way around. And she is a force to be reckoned with.
What can you tease about what’s to come this season? And how does S7 compare to previous seasons on “Outlander” overall?
HEUGHAN: It’s epic. It’s a huge season. Biggest, aside from Season 1. The scale of this one is probably the biggest we’ve done. We had a kind of teaser, a showreel edited on the last day of shooting. I was kind of blown away by the variety we have, from America to Scotland to different timelines, different time periods, different narratives, huge battles.
Then, at the heart of it all is a relationship, a romance that endures despite it all. I think it’s going to be a huge season. I haven’t seen it all myself, but I can’t wait for the fans to go back on this journey with us.
This interview has been edited and condensed.