After four episodes of preparation, one of the most anticipated moments of the second season of Outlander: Blood of My Blood has arrived, the Battle of Sheriffmuir. The clash between the Jacobite and British armies divided the characters of the production that we can see on Movistar Plus, and placed them in a new setting where nothing is what it seems. A battle that did not reach the level of Culloden that we saw in the original series, but which undoubtedly kept our hearts in our throats throughout the episode.
This fierce confrontation placed the parents of the Outlander protagonists, Brian (Jamie Roy) and Henry (Jeremy Irvine), on opposite sides, with Murtagh (Rory Alexander) and Dougal (Sam Retford) alongside the former, forming part of the Jacobite ranks. And the rest of the characters waiting to see what consequences the battle’s outcome could have for their future and their clan.
The Battle of Sheriffmuir, which took place in November 1715 and gave rise to one of the most famous songs of the Scottish tradition, has also been a source of controversy, as both sides declared themselves the winners. Political questions aside, Sam Retford, who plays Dougal Mackenzie, and Jamie Roy (Brian Fraser), spoke to us exclusively for Spain about the battle shortly after filming it.
Chases and Explosions
For Retford, filming the Battle of Sheriffmuir was “one of the best weeks on a set I have been on,” he shared with a smile. For the Australian actor, “it was really fun to be with the stunt team; they are absolutely incredible, and Emer Conroy (the director) did a fantastic job in showing this raw war experience that did not require any acting. You were simply running across muddy fields with 120 men behind you, horses and explosions all around.”
Sam Retford as Dougal Mackenzie in an image from the Sheriffmuir battle episode.
When it came to bringing the script to the screen, the actor who plays Dougal Mackenzie explained that before the cameras start rolling “you have all the special effects experts saying: ‘Here is one explosive, here is another,’ and they would place a flag in a huge field and you’d think ‘Great! Now I know where the explosives are.’” But when it came to it, “you ran across the field at full speed, with huge cameras, you only had one take and it started pouring rain. And they would take away the flags and then they would say: ‘Run, but don’t step on the explosives.’ Do you remember where the flags were?’ And you run, the explosive goes off and mud splashes into your eyes and you can’t see anything. So you close your eyes and keep running.”
To reach this essential moment in the second season of Outlander: Blood of My Blood, and which will have consequences for his character, Retford shared that before arriving on the battlefield proper they spent several weeks training “but it was a lot of fun, swinging swords. It was like a childhood dream.” When it came to putting it on the ground, the actor noted that “it was amazing to see the Scottish hills, horses, banners and bagpipes; nothing modern was visible, it was incredible.”
Intense but Rewarding
For Jamie Roy, who plays Brian Fraser, learning “the entire choreography” of the Sheriffmuir battle scenes “wasn’t difficult, although it was a lot.” But of course, it’s not the same to train indoors and in petit committee, than “when it rains, there’s mud, it’s cold and there are 200 extras around you. Then,” he explained, “you can’t make mistakes, you have to make sure you do it perfectly.”
Jamie Roy as Brian Fraser in an image from Outlander: Blood of My Blood.
Perhaps that is why, for the Scottish actor, the two weeks that the Outlander: Blood of My Blood team spent filming the epic clash of the Jacobite army were “particular difficult,” not only for the actors, but for the entire crew. “I think by the end of that week we were all exhausted,” he shared.
Despite this, the actor also acknowledged that the battle scenes, “from an active perspective aren’t actually that difficult, because you just have to fight and make it look intense. But that isn’t complicated because what you’re doing is really intense, so despite the physical fatigue, it was rewarding.”
