Now that Starz has blessed Outlander fans with the first teaser trailer for the historical fantasy drama’s final season, it’s time to enjoy the parallel love stories at the heart of the upcoming prequel series, Outlander: Blood of My Blood. Set in the Scottish Highlands of the early 1700s as well as World War I, Blood of My Blood chronicles the war-torn romance between Claire Beauchamp Fraser’s (Caitríona Balfe) parents, Julia Moriston (Hermione Corfield) and Henry Beauchamp (Jeremy Irvine), and the forbidden yet undeniable passion shared by Jamie Fraser’s (Sam Heughan) own parents, Ellen MacKenzie (Harriet Slater) and Brian Fraser (Jamie Roy).
Aside from offering audiences everything they could desire from a small-screen extension of author Diana Gabaldon’s Outlander saga — like ardent flirtations, beautiful locations, complex politics, and, of course, time travel courtesy of Craigh Na Dun’s Standing Stones — Blood of My Blood‘s revelations upend everything Claire herself assumed about her parents; accidental time travel, it seems, is literally in Claire’s DNA. Although showrunner Matthew B. Roberts stated that Blood of My Blood is accessible enough for new viewers to begin their Outlander journey with the prequel series, if existing fans need a refresher on Jamie and Claire’s respective family trees, here’s the main information Outlander has provided about those familiar faces as well as the characters making their debut in Blood of My Blood.
Who Are Clan MacKenzie’s Main Players in ‘Outlander’?
Jamie and Claire lost one or both of their parents during their early childhoods. Since Ellen MacKenzie passed away during childbirth when Jamie was 10 years old, Outlander‘s seven seasons rely on Jamie’s memories and second-hand reports from surviving characters to form a picture of his late mother. Inheriting a fiery temper that suited her red hair (which she passed down to her son and granddaughter), Ellen’s reputation paints her as being kind, generous, and adored by almost everyone she met. Before marrying Brian, she lived in Castle Leoch with her father, Jacob, her three sisters, and her two brothers. Those siblings include three names we know very well from their time on Outlander: Colum (Séamus McLean Ross), Dougal (Sam Retford), and the baby of the family, Jocasta (Sadhbh Malin). Another beloved figure, Murtagh Fitzgibbons Fraser (Rory Alexander), has longstanding ties to both sides of the family, having nursed an unrequited crush on Ellen.
By the time Claire travels through the stones to 1743, the older Murtagh (Duncan Lacroix) has been christened as Jamie’s godfather, while Jamie’s two maternal uncles oversee the MacKenzie clan. Colum’s (Gary Lewis) strategic mind and devotion to his family make him their ideal Laird; Dougal (Graham McTavish) acts as the MacKenzie’s war chieftain. As Colum’s right-hand man, Dougal fulfills duties that Colum’s chronic illness — Toulouse-Lautrec Syndrome — prevents him from accomplishing. Despite Dougal’s suspicions about Claire’s intentions, the fearsome warrior ensures her safety by arranging her marriage to Jamie. He’s also a loyal Jacobite, a controversial fact he withholds from Colum.
Over in America, Jocasta (Maria Doyle Kennedy), a three-time widower married to her fourth husband, resides on a North Carolina plantation. Alongside her husband, Hector mor Cameron, and their daughter Morna, the youngest MacKenzie child left Scotland in 1730 to escape the potential wrath of King Louis XV (Lionel Lingelser) — Hector and Dougal stole gold from France’s king to support Charles Stuart (Andrew Gower), the future leader of the Jacobite Rising. By the time Jamie reunites with his aunt in Outlander Season 4, with his legendary wife in tow, Jocasta has buried three daughters, married Jamie’s acquaintance, Duncan Innes (Alastair Findlay), in a political arrangement, and developed blindness from untreated glaucoma. Yet none of these events erase Jocasta’s iron will as an older woman fully in command of herself and determined to protect her current freedom as well as her legacy.
‘Outlander’s Clan Fraser Has a Complicated and Painful History
Brian, meanwhile, hails from the beloved Lallybroch estate. Simon Fraser (Tony Curran), the head of the Lovat branch of Clan Fraser and thus also known as Lord Lovat, sired Brian out of wedlock with Davina Porter (Sara Vickers), one of his servants. When he appears in Outlander‘s second season, played by Clive Russell, his estrangement from Brian and his continued absence from his bastard grandson’s life make him practically a stranger to Jamie. Not that Jamie wants his paternal grandfather in his life, especially after Simon proves his low character by refusing to aid the Jacobite cause and insulting Claire to her face. Despite being cunning enough to earn the nickname “the Old Fox,” Lovat’s decision to side with the British against the Jacobites seals his eventual doom.
Unlike Lord Lovat, Blood of My Blood‘s Brian and Ellen are a passionate love match. They elope against their families’ wishes; Ellen specifically defies her brothers’ intentions to marry her into a politically beneficial but loveless match. Their union remains controversial even after Ellen’s pregnancies with William, their firstborn (who dies of smallpox 11 years later), their daughter Jenny (Laura Donnelly), and, of course, Jamie. Unlike his late wife, the widowed Brian lives until 1740, three years before Claire’s surprise arrival in Scotland. Witnessing Jack Randall (Tobias Menzies) torture Jamie to what Brian believes is Jamie’s death causes Brian’s own passing from an apoplexy — which might as well be considered death from grief.
Brianna (Sophie Skelton), Jamie and Claire’s daughter, meets her grandfather in Season 7 thanks to time travel shenanigans. Brianna can’t reveal her identity, but he treats her with reserved compassion. That assessment aligns with Jamie’s experiences with his father. As for other characters’ connections to the original series, Ned Gowan (Conor MacNeill in Blood of My Blood and Bill Paterson in Outlander), an associate of Colum’s, becomes a lawyer and defends Claire during her trial in Season 1. Briana’s husband, Roger MacKenzie (Richard Rankin), unites the rival MacKenzie and Fraser clans even further as a descendant of Dougal’s extramarital affair with secret time traveler Geillis Duncan (Lotte Verbeek).
‘Outlander: Blood of My Blood’ Reveals the Surprising Truth About Claire Fraser’s Parents
Comparatively, information is much sparser about Claire’s parents. Since the age of five, Claire has grown up believing Julia and Henry died in a car crash during their Scottish vacation in 1923. Following the tragedy, Claire, the couple’s only child (that we know of), was adopted by her archeologist uncle Quentin (Prentis Hancock). The rest is a mystery Blood of My Blood intends to slowly reveal, starting with the fact that the future spouses wrote each other letters during World War I and fell in love before laying eyes upon their soulmate. The biggest shock, however, is their dramatic trip through the same stones their daughter will eventually touch. Separated by their time-bending journey, Blood of My Blood‘s first season chronicles the couple’s struggle to reunite — and as they adapt to their new surroundings, Julia encourages Ellen and Brian’s secret dalliances.
Not only is Blood of My Blood a romance times two, it’s guaranteed to turn even more of our assumptions about the history of Outlander‘s main couple on their heads. From generation to generation, fate has always tied these families together. Claire and Jamie’s love story is destiny in the making, and that match wouldn’t have come to fruition without a little touch of magic — literally, through whatever creates Craigh Na Dun’s ancient power, and metaphorically, thanks to the pair’s equally loving parents paving the way.
