A New Leading Man Has Entered the Chat
Jamie Roy is glowing proof that first impressions matter. When the Scottish actor got his first Outlander audition for season 7’s “Militia Man Number One,” a character who had one or two lines, he thought, “This is it, baby! This is my big break.” It was, in fact, not his big break, as the role was ultimately cut, but casting saw something in the actor and invited him back to audition for a much bigger role. “I was like, ‘Oh sweet, I’ve done something right,'” Roy recalls over a Zoom call in early July. He didn’t get that part either. But little did Roy know, the creators of the massively successful Starz series were cooking up a buzzy new prequel with just the leading man in mind. Enter Outlander: Blood of My Blood—yes, Roy’s big break.
Billed as a sweeping period romance, Blood of My Blood follows not one but two parallel love stories as the courtships of the parents of Outlander‘s Claire Beauchamp (Caitríona Balfe) and Jamie Fraser (Sam Heughan) unfold across the Highlands of 18th century Scotland and the battlefields of World War I. Roy plays Brian Fraser, Jamie’s father, who has no interest in the marriage market until he meets the right woman—the headstrong Ellen MacKenzie. There’s just one problem: Brian and Ellen are from rival clans, making it impossible for them to be together. It’s a classic tale of star-crossed lovers.
Roy’s uncanny resemblance to Heughan makes him a no-brainer for the role of Jamie’s father, but even though Roy had been told of their likeness many times by fans of the show, he didn’t quite see it himself until the two Scots finally met in person for the first time. “When we started talking, I was like, ‘Oh, I think I see what people mean,'” Roy says, flashing a smile. Sitting outside of a local coffee shop where filming was underway for Blood of My Blood with adoring fans strategically posted up at nearby tables, the two actors immediately clicked and got along really well. “It was during that meeting when I realized, ‘Oh, we’re actually very similar as people,'” he adds.
(Image credit: Starz)
Roy and Heughan’s similarities don’t stop at their chiseled jawlines and personal interests. Their characters also share an initial distaste for courtship until their respective loves of their lives come along; like father, like son. Roy shares that Brian is resigned to the fact that he will lead an uninteresting life as the bastard son of Simon Fraser, shunned from society, before his meet-cute with Ellen.
“But when he meets Ellen, that’s when he realizes, ‘Oh, I can actually want something again,’ and that was really fun because it totally changes him as a person,” Roy says. “I like to say when viewers are watching, they’re gonna see a couple of versions of Brian. They’re gonna see the Brian who is very headstrong, very deliberate, and quick mouthed with his father. And then he’s a totally different person when he’s with Ellen because with Ellen, it’s this confident, kindred spirit where he can let himself down. He can say his grievances with his father and with his life. He can tell stories about his past without feeling judged because this woman sees him and sees his soul.” Roy goes on to describe Brian as a huge romantic, pointing to his choice of location for their secret meeting in episode 1 as the “most picturesque bridge in the whole of Scotland.”
This passionate love story wouldn’t be what it is without that electric chemistry between its leads, so the search for Ellen was no easy task. Roy had met with six or seven actresses, who he says were all fantastic but just missing that spark, before he started doubting himself. Then English actress Harriet Slater walked into the room and changed everything. On a bank holiday in Scotland, Roy and Slater met in a small studio and read together on a Zoom call for the show’s casting and creative teams.
“We started doing the scenes, and just straight from the get-go, her accent was fantastic, which is one of the things that I’m quite a stickler for because the accent’s got to be good or it takes you right out of it,” Roy says. “We did the scenes, and there was one scene in particular… We had a couple of scenes from Blood of My Blood and then one scene from Outlander, and I think it’s the scene where Jamie says goodbye to Claire at the end of season 2 at the stones. When we did that one, I felt like, ‘Holy shit.’ It was this wave of something that I never had for all these other reads. It was electrifying. I remember thinking, ‘Oh my god, that’s it. That’s what I’ve been missing.’ You don’t know what you’re looking for until you see it, until you feel it, and that was it.”
After the read was over, Roy and Slater breathed a huge sigh of relief before walking out to their separate taxis. Roy gave her a big hug and told her he was rooting for her. “When I got into the taxi, I texted Glenda [Mariani] from casting, and I said to her, ‘That’s the one, right?’ And I think she said to me, ‘Yeah, that’s who we’re hoping for too,'” Roy says.
At the time of our interview with Roy, Starz had only released two episodes to press—quite the tease if you ask us. But that was all we needed to see Roy and Slater’s palpable chemistry on-screen. Theirs is a forbidden love à la Romeo and Juliet, where stolen glances and risky meetups create a slow-burn romance for the ages. “I always love a challenge, so when I read the script, I was like, ‘Oh my god, that seems impossible. How can these two people actually be together?'” Roy tells us. “It’s that playing with danger that really excites me about it because there’s so many ways that the danger can play out.”
It wouldn’t be an Outlander drama without its fair share of steamy scenes, and when asked about his experience filming the show’s intimate, vulnerable moments, Roy quickly pointed to the strong bond between him and his scene partner. He says, “You have to have that trust to be like, ‘Hey, we’re in this together. I’m only going to do whatever you’re comfortable with.'” Thankfully, that trust was formed early on between Roy and Slater, and with the help of an intimacy coordinator, he says it was a great collaboration. “We got into this process of establishing what we wanted to do, how we wanted it to look, and how we wanted to feel. That was one of the most important things as well. Does this serve the story? Once you’ve got all those pieces in place, it’s just like a dance,” he says. “The ones that we did in this season, I’m very proud of what we both did.”
All signs point to Blood of My Blood being a massive hit this summer—so much so that the show was handed a second-season renewal before its series premiere on August 8. Filming is already underway for season 2, which is great news for future fans of the show, as Roy hints at a major cliff-hanger ending that will have viewers begging for more. “It does end in a really interesting and intriguing place,” he shares, adding that “the story’s brilliant” and he’s just excited to be back in Glasgow with the cast and crew.
(Image credit: Starz)
As we wrap up our conversation, we ask Roy if he’s prepared for the life-changing stardom that is sure to come his way in just a few weeks’ time. He laughs. “I’ve thought about it,” Roy admits. “I’m so thankful to be able to do this—to tell this story, to play this role, to meet these people, to work with these people. I’m just taking everything a day as it comes.”
Jamie Roy has officially entered his leading-man era.
Don’t miss new episodes of Outlander: Blood of My Blood every Friday on Starz.
Photographer: David Needleman
Stylist: Anna Su
Groomer: Melissa DeZarate
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