I’m so glad Sam turned out to be the man
Author tells how leading role didn’t go to the actors she had in mind.. but that Sam Heughan turned out to be perfect choice to play Jamie Fraser
HUNKY Sam Heughan was not Outlander author Diana Gabaldon’s first choice to play Jamie Fraser – she had her heart set on Liam Neeson or Sir Sean Connery.
The writer, whose books spawned one of the most popular TV shows on the planet, said that when she imagined Jamie on screen it was the rugged Irish actor or the 007 star she saw in the role.
But, speaking at the launch of the ninth book in the Outlander series, Diana, 69, admitted swashbuckling Sam turned out to be the perfect choice and she would not change him for the world.
The writer, who confirmed the sixth series of the hit drama starring Heughan, 41, as Jamie and Catriona Balfe as his time-travelling lover Claire, will premiere on March 6, 2022, said: “Liam Neeson and Sir Sean Connery were the first contenders for Jamie.
“Now this was years ago when my early books were optioned for a feature film. People kept asking me who I would cast and they were the first two who sprang to mind.
“I was just thinking in general terms of large Celtic-looking men who could pull it off and both Liam and Sean were built that way and looked great in a kilt.
“The feature film didn’t happen and when the Starz series began both Neeson and Connery were too old and I left it up to the casting directors to find the perfect Jamie and I wasn’t disappointed.”
Diana, whose long-awaited book Go Tell the Bees That I Am Gone is out now, exactly 30 years after her first Outlander book was published in 1991, added: “I could not be happier with Catriona and Sam as my hero and heroine. They are just wonderful.
“Sam is just everything. He is a lovely guy who has become a good friend. We have a connection as he has brought the character to life and I have provided him with a job.
“Jamie and Claire have become more than family, they are part of me. They have been my constant companions since I wrote my first book about them 30 years ago. Finding the perfect actors to play them and my other characters is no mean feat but the show has managed to do so and I could not be happier. It’s fascinating watching the story come to life on screen.”
Celebrating the publication of her new 900-page blockbuster – which has been seven years in the writing – Diana also revealed the
I could not be happier with Catriona and Sam
DIANA GABALDON
epic love story between Jamie and Claire is in part based on her relationship with her husband of 45 years Doug Watkins.
The mother of three, who lives in Scottsdale, Arizona, and had never set foot in Scotland before penning her first novel, said: “Doug is the love of my life and there are bits of him in Jamie. We’ve been together for 50 years and married for 45. We have an eternal relationship like Jamie and Claire.
“Ours spans decades, whereas it was centuries with them. My husband is proud I feel that way about him.
“I am often asked if I could travel through the stones which time period I would like to end up in and my answer is always the same – I’m happy being here with Doug and would never want to be apart from him. We are planning to come to Scotland for our anniversary and have our eye on the Culloden House Hotel, near Inverness, which is our favourite place to stay.”
Diana is a consultant on the hit TV series, which before the pandemic was credited with boosting Scottish tourism by 72 per cent, as fans flocked to Scotland to visit the film locations.
She said: “In 2019, Visit Scotland gave me an award in recognition of my services to the industry.
“Scotland is one of the most beautiful countries on the planet and is as much a character in my books as Jamie and Claire. I feel honoured to have helped boost tourism. It’s a lovely legacy to leave the country I love.”
Diana, who got the idea for her books after watching an episode of Doctor Who which featured a kilted Scotsman, said: “I’m a massive fan of the Doctor and was inspired… after watching an episode back when Patrick Troughton played the time traveller.
“There was a minor character, a young Scotsman from 1745, who appeared in his kilt and I thought, ‘Perfect, a kilted hero in 18th-century Scotland and Outlander was born.’ I’m still a fan of the show and can’t wait to catch up on the last two series now that the book is finished. I don’t watch TV when I’m writing as there are already too many idea marbles rolling round in my head.”
Since the publication of the first Outlander book, there have been more than 50million copies of Gabaldon’s novels sold worldwide.
In Go Tell the Bees I Am Gone, it is 1779 and Claire and Jamie are at last reunited with their daughter, Brianna, her husband Roger and their children on Fraser’s Ridge. But what horrors have happened in the future to prompt their return?
Having the family together is a dream come true but the Revolutionary War is creeping ever closer and there has been a hint from the future that Jamie dies on the battlefield. Will it come to pass?
Even though Diana has said in the past that this is the penultimate book, fans will be delighted to know the 10th in the series might not be the last we hear of Jamie and Claire.
The software expert, who has three science degrees including a PhD, said: “It took me seven years to write this which is slightly misleading as during that time I wrote four others books and three TV scripts – it wasn’t like I was sitting about twiddling my thumbs.
“The next book is meant to be the last one as it is where history and the lives of my characters seem to be going, plus I’m not going to live forever. I’m 70 in January.
“I think it is the last one but there may be another one. There’s nothing to say I won’t see something in Jamie and Claire’s lives I can write about. I’ve also got a contract for a prequel about Jamie Fraser’s parents.”
She added: “One of the biggest mysteries which has been puzzling Outlander fans is how Jamie, who cannot time travel, is seen watching Claire in the 40s. I can promise you all will be revealed in book 10.”
Diana, who made a guest appearance in Outlander series one as wealthy merchant’s wife Iona MacTavish, has agreed to make another cameo in the final series.
The author, who is a fan of Scots writers Irvine Welsh, Ian Rankin and Andrew Greig, said: “I have been on the set of the show three times – mostly as a consultant – but I did make a cameo in the first series and I’ve been asked to make another in the final one but who knows when that will be?
“The sixth series will air in March next year and a seventh has been confirmed. Hopefully all of my books will be brought to life on screen. The appetite for Outlander is certainly there.”
● Go Tell The Bees That I Am Gone by Diana Gabaldon is out now.