Outlander‘s Father Bain probably doesn’t deserve a pass, but he certainly got one in Season 1, star Caitriona Balfe says.
The actress told fans gathered at Emerald City Comicon on Friday that an incident from Diana Gabaldon’s Outlander novel was originally included in a Season 1 episode … until things went wrong.
Those who’ve read the book will remember that the angry cleric encounters a pack of dogs; when the beasts bite him, Claire warns that the wounds will fester if not properly cleaned. And when he bullheadedly ignores her and that happens, the priest uses it as evidence that Claire is a witch who cursed him.
“Father Bain, we tried to do a scene where he gets attacked by dogs, but [the actor] actually got attacked by dogs,” Balfe told the crowd at the panel, where she appeared alongside co-star Sam Heughan. (We’re assuming, from the way the pair were chuckling, that portrayer Tim McInnerny came out OK.) She added that the incident was one of the reasons Claire’s fight against a group of wolves, which happens in the book while she’s attempting to break Jamie out of Blackwater Prison, also never made it to screen.
“I’d like to see you fight a wolf,” Heughan said.
“You know, I think I could take down a wolf,” Balfe replied.
Though the actors said they weren’t allowed to divulge much about the Starz series’ upcoming third season, an audience member asked them to indicate — with facial expressions — whether the much-heralded print-shop scene (during which [Spoiler alert] Jamie and Claire reunite after a 20-year separation) is faithful to how it is written in Voyager, aka Book 3, on which Season 3 is based.
Balfe’s answer: an enthusiastic nodding of the head.
Outlander will return with Season 3 in September.
