David Farnor | On 12, Oct 2017

Maria Doyle Kennedy and Ed Speleers have been cast in the fourth season of Outlander. The pair will take on two key roles in the historical fantasy drama, which is based on the books by Diana Gabaldon.

‪Maria Doyle Kennedy is an acclaimed singer and actor. She has spent the past five years travelling the world with her family preparing songs for her new album, gigging constantly and filming the TV show Orphan Black. Other recent acting credits also include Downton Abbey, The Conjuring 2 and Sing Street. ‬

She will portray Jocasta, Jamie’s strong willed Aunt.

Ed Speleers is a British actor who has crafted a career across both film and television over the past ten years. He was recently seen in the acclaimed adaptation of Wolf Hall, the award-winning Downton Abbey and ITV primetime drama, Beowulf.  His most recent credits include roles in Andy Serkis’ Breathe with Claire Foy, plus Andrew Garfield and Lars Von Trier’s The House that Jack Built. In 2016, Ed was seen in Disney’s ‪Through the Looking-Glass ‬directed by Tim Burton. His breakout role was playing the lead in Eragon which he was selected for the lead role by director Stefen Fangmeier after a worldwide casting search. Other film credits include ‪A Lonely Place to Die, Howl, Plastic‬ and Love Bite.

He will play the role of Irishman Stephen Bonnet, a pirate and smuggler.

The fourth season of the series will include 13 episodes, based upon Drums of Autumn, the fourth of Gabaldon’s eight novels. Filming commenced this week in Scotland.

The announcement arrives as Season 3 airs new episodes in the UK on Mondays on Amazon Prime Video. The eagerly-awaited sixth episode will premiere next week, marking the first time time fans get to see beloved characters Claire and Jamie together again after being separated for 20 years. The reunion episode will run at an extended 74 minutes.

 

Outlander Season 3 casts its Dunsany sisters

10th November 2016

Outlander Season 3 continues to assemble its key cast, with the show finding its Dunsany sisters, Geneva and Isobel.

Hannah James has been cast as Geneva, the eldest, who is as beautiful as she is headstrong. Yet she’s also petulant, spoiled and demanding of the servants at their home – Helwater. Geneva’s accustomed to getting exactly what she wants when she wants it. Underneath however she has a vulnerability – even a naiveté – due to her sheltered life.

James attended the Guildford School of Acting in England and received her BA Honors in Acting. She was signed with Bloomfields Welch Management in London during the spring of 2014 and became GSA’s Spotlight Nominee for that graduating year’s class. Several months later, she made the jump back across the pond to pursue her acting career in LA. After working with WME and Luber Roklin Management for three months, Hannah landed the role of Emma Green in Mercy Street.

Tanya Reynolds will play Isobel, Geneva’s younger sister, who is warm, friendly and genuine. Though more plain than her sister, Isobel is inherently more likeable and compassionate towards others.

Reynolds graduated from The Oxford School of Drama in 2015, and has since played a lead role in feature film Fanny Lye Deliver’d, opposite Maxine Peake and Charles Dance, set to be released next year. She has also just finished filming a lead role in a new drama for Sky One called Delicious, opposite Dawn French.

Spoilers for Season 1 and 2 follow

Season 3 of Outlander is based on the third of eight books in Diana Gabaldon’s Outlander series, entitled Voyager. Adapted for television by Ronald D. Moore, Season 3 picks up right after Claire (Caitriona Balfe) travels through the stones to return to her life in 1948. Now pregnant, she struggles with the fallout of her sudden reappearance and its effect on her marriage to her first husband, Frank (Tobias Menzies). Meanwhile, in the 18th century, Jamie suffers from the aftermath of his doomed last stand at the historic battle of Culloden, as well as the loss of Claire. As the years pass, Jamie (Sam Heughan) and Claire attempt to make a life apart from one another, each haunted by the memory of their lost love. The budding possibility that Claire can return to Jamie in the past breathes new hope into Claire’s heart, as well as new doubt. Separated by continents and centuries, Claire and Jamie must find their way back to each other.

Filming began for the 13-episode season in August 2016 in Scotland and the production will move to South Africa next year.

Outlander Season 3 will premiere in 2017, with episodes arriving exclusively on Amazon Prime Video in the UK within 24 hours of their US broadcast. Season 1 and 2 are both available to stream on Amazon Prime Video, as part of a £5.99 monthly subscription. You can catch up with our Season 2 reviews here.

 

 

John Bell and Wil Johnson join Outlander Season 3 cast

21st September 2016

Two key roles have been cast in Outlander Season 3. Joining Jamie’s (Sam Heughan) world in the 18th century, John Bell (The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies) will play the role of Young Ian.

Young Ian Murray is described as “a tall, gangly Scottish lad with a heart of gold, a stubborn streak and a penchant for getting into trouble”. Bursting with charm, he’s more like his adventurous, fierce uncle Jamie Fraser than his farmer father, Ian, but when we meet him, he is still a very gawky boy.

Bell, 18, has been acting professionally since winning a small part in Doctor Who at age 10 by entering a competition on Blue Peter. He played Helius in Wrath of the Titans, directed by Jonathan Liebesman, and then went to New Zealand to play Bain in The Hobbit sequels. Bell is currently shooting Arsen Ostojic’s Man in the Box. Bell’s TV career includes recurring roles in BBC Scotland’s Life of Riley and CBBC’s Tracy Breaker Returns, as well as roles in Midsomer Murders and mini-series Hatfields & McCoys for the History Channel.

Joining Claire’s (Caitriona Balfe) world in 20th Century Boston, meanwhile, Wil Johnson (Waking the Dead) will play her friend and medical colleague, Joe Abernathy.

Joe Abernathy is a fellow doctor-in-training whom Claire befriends in medical school. Intelligent, charismatic, with a wry and irreverent sense of humor, Joe is a loyal confidant with great affection for Claire. He puts on a good face, but he is all too aware of his place in the Civil Rights era. Joe and Claire both feel out of place in the mostly all-white, all-male medical field and that bonds them together in a life-long friendship.

Johnson will be a familiar face to audiences, following recurring roles on British dramas, such as Waterloo Road, Holby City, Cracker, Babyfather and Waking the Dead. He will soon be seen in Kit Monkham’s feature film of Macbeth and was also in Noel Clarke’s Adulthood. His theatre career includes the title role of Othello at the Royal Lyceum Theatre, directed by Mark Thompson.

Spoilers for Season 1 and 2 follow

Book Three of Outlander will be based on the third of eight books in Diana Gabaldon’s Outlander series, Voyager. The third season picks up right after Claire travels through the stones to return to her life in 1948. Now pregnant, she struggles with the fallout of her sudden reappearance and its effect on her marriage to her first husband, Frank. Meanwhile, back in the 1700s, Jamie suffers from the aftermath of his doomed last stand at Culloden, as well as the loss of Claire. As the years pass, Jamie and Claire attempt to make a life apart from one another, each haunted by the memory of their lost love. The budding possibility that Claire can return to Jamie in the past breathes new hope into Claire’s heart, as well as new doubt. Separated by continents and centuries, Claire and Jamie must find their way back to each other. As always, adversity, mystery, and adventure await them on the path to reunion. And the question remains: when they find each other, will they be the same people who parted at the standing stones, all those years ago?

Spoilers end

Ronald D. Moore, Maril Davis, Matthew B. Roberts, Toni Graphia, Anne Kenney and Andy Harries serve as executive producers of the show, which is produced by Tall Ship Productions, Story Mining & Supply Company and Left Bank Pictures in association with Sony Pictures Television.

 

David Berry to play Lord John William Grey in Outlander Season 3

31st August 2016

David Berry has joined the cast of Outlander for Season 3 of the historical fantasy epic.

The actor, who is best for his role as James Bligh in popular Australian show A Place To Call Home (for which he was nominated for Most Outstanding Supporting Actor in the 2016 Logie Awards), will play the role of Lord John William Grey.

Lord John William Grey is a steadfast and honourable British subject, torn between a finely-honed sense of familial duty and a strong moral compass of right and wrong. He is boyishly handsome with an upper class rearing – the consummate gentleman. However, a scandal from his past has relegated Lord John to an undesirable position as governor of a desolate prison in Northern Scotland.

Season 3 of Starz’s adaptation of Diana Gabaldon’s best-selling books – led by Star Trek’s Ronald D. Moore – will be based on the third of the eight books in the Outlander series: Voyager. The show will pick up right after Claire travels through the stones to return to her life in 1948. Now pregnant, she struggles with the fallout of her sudden reappearance and its effect on her marriage to her first husband, Frank. Meanwhile, in the 18th century, Jamie suffers from the aftermath of his doomed last stand at the historic battle of Culloden, as well as the loss of Claire.

As the years pass, Jamie and Claire attempt to make a life apart from one another, each haunted by the memory of their lost love. The budding possibility that Claire can return to Jamie in the past, though, breathes new hope into Claire’s heart… as well as new doubt. Separated by continents and centuries, can Claire and Jamie find their way back to each other? And if they find each other, will they be the same people who parted at the standing stones, all those years ago?

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