{"id":321600,"date":"2026-03-10T01:26:07","date_gmt":"2026-03-10T01:26:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/321600\/"},"modified":"2026-03-10T01:26:07","modified_gmt":"2026-03-10T01:26:07","slug":"outlander-star-caitriona-balfe-on-her-final-highland-fling-and-her-role-in-the-new-ed-hillary-sherpa-tenzing-movie","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/321600\/","title":{"rendered":"Outlander star Caitr\u00edona Balfe on her final highland fling – and her role in the new Ed Hillary-Sherpa Tenzing movie"},"content":{"rendered":"

\n By the time it finishes \u2013 and even she doesn\u2019t know how it all ends \u2013 Caitr\u00edona Balfe would have appeared as Claire Fraser Randall in 101 episodes of Outlander. The romantic fantasy show began seven seasons and 12 years ago with Claire\u2019s World War II nurse travelling back
\n to 18th-century Scotland to meet the eventual love of her life, earthy highlander Jamie Fraser (Sam Heughan). Since, it\u2019s occasionally returned Claire to the 20th century, and her other, troubled, marriage. But mainly it\u2019s followed the pair from the Highlands during the time of the Jacobite rebellion to more fighting against the English in the American Revolutionary War, with visits back to Scotland and stop-offs in France and the West Indies.\n <\/p>\n

\"PartPart of Outlander’s appeal is the chemistry between show stars Caitr\u00edona Balfe and Sam Heughan. Photo \/ Supplied<\/p>\n

Aye, that lassie has been through quite a bit in those 30 years. There\u2019s more to come in the eighth and final season. Having wandered through a stone circle near Inverness allowing her a passage into the past in the very first episode, Claire has had her bodice ripped rather a lot, been accused of witchcraft for her medical knowledge and nearly burnt at the stake, fought pirates, been shipwrecked, become a mother and a grandmother, and been arrested for murder.<\/p>\n

\u201cI mean what have we missed?\u201d says Balfe with a laugh from Los Angeles, where she\u2019s on Zoom promotional duties for the season.<\/p>\n

The show, which adapted US writer Diana Gabaldon\u2019s book series, has never lacked for surprises \u2013 or candlelit sex scenes \u2013 since it started in 2014. But the performances of \u2013 and the chemistry between \u2013 Balfe and Heughan against all that history has helped give Outlander a faithful fan base (see More than romance, below) throughout.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s straddled multiple genres and so it gives a lot of different people different things,\u201d says Balfe on why the fans have stayed. \u201cIt\u2019s also got this beautiful love story at the heart of it which is aspirational and comforting.\u201d<\/p>\n

Getting the role was Balfe\u2019s big break after she moved on from the modelling career that took her as a teenager from her native Ireland to Paris. She was a struggling actress in Los Angeles with a few small parts to her name when, in one week, she got offered Outlander and a Christian Slater television show called Mind Games. It was a coin toss. The latter didn\u2019t see out its first season before it was cancelled.<\/p>\n

Nominated for best actress in a TV drama Golden Globes for the first four seasons, her Outlander profile has led to film roles, most notably playing Kenneth Branagh\u2019s mother in his autobiographical Belfast.<\/p>\n

\"Caitr\u00edonaCaitr\u00edona Balfe in the Kenneth Branagh movie Belfast. Supplied<\/p>\n

But as the Outlander seasons went by, would she ever get a script and go, \u201cReally?\u201d <\/p>\n

\u201cIn the early seasons, we\u2019d follow the books to the letter. So you would finish a season and straight away you would pick up the next book, and you would start reading it in your hiatus. Then you would find out which parts of that book the writers were able to keep and which parts had to go \u2013 that was always the sort of funny thing, \u2018What do you mean you\u2019re not doing this bit?\u2019 Or, \u2018I\u2019m so glad you\u2019re doing that bit.\u2019 <\/p>\n

\u201cBut as the later seasons went on, our show and the book deviated a lot more. This season, there was no idea of what the writers were going to do. Sam and I would normally get an overview of the season and this time we didn\u2019t. \u2018No, we\u2019re not telling you anything, and you\u2019re going to get it script by script.\u2019 So it was, \u2018Okay, I guess we\u2019ll find out.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

I was trying to pitch a bit more menopause or something for Claire, and [the producers] were like, \u2018No,\u2019 \u2026 but the privilege of getting to play a character over a 30-year span is amazing.<\/p>\n

Caitr\u00edona Balfe<\/p>\n

That also means she doesn\u2019t really know how Outlander ends. There were alternative endings shot and scenes in the final episode she wasn\u2019t involved in. Showrunner Matthew B Roberts, she says, has been playing his cards close to his chest.<\/p>\n

The show was made for pay-TV channel Starz in the US, also home to sexed-up period shows such as Da Vinci\u2019s Demons, Black Sails, the New Zealand-made Spartacus, and a run of spicy Tudor dramas. But it spread around the world, mostly via streaming platforms. It started here on Lightbox, Spark\u2019s attempt at streaming that was eventually taken over by Sky.<\/p>\n

Because of the strong terrestrial television culture in the UK, says Balfe, it took a while for the show to take off over there, coming after the early seasons were hits in the US.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe were also part of a wave. If Game of Thrones hadn\u2019t been so popular, would our show have been popular, because that had already paved the way for these fantasy elements? And there had been a couple of big shows with female leads that if they hadn\u2019t done well before, would our show have done well? I think you sort of meet the moment and if you\u2019re lucky, it\u2019s beneficial for you.\u201d<\/p>\n

All that adventure and peril have given Claire some grey hair. On Zoom, Balfe remains a 46-year-old who looks a lot younger than that, with none. \u201cI\u2019m looking very good for 62 now, I think,\u201d she says about her character\u2019s supposed age in the new season.<\/p>\n

\"Outlandish:Outlandish: Caitr\u00edona Balfe\u2019s Claire Randall has survived many a hairy moment over seven seasons. Photo \/ Getty Images<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s funny. I was trying to pitch certain things at one point \u2013 maybe we should add in a bit more menopause or something for Claire, and [the producers] were like, \u2018No,\u2019 \u2026 but the privilege of getting to play a character over a 30-year span is amazing. Everything that she went through from being, not necessarily an ing\u00e9nue, but she was like this young woman falling in love, to then being a grandmother and the matriarch of this extended family. It\u2019s quite amazing to have been able to do that.\u201d<\/p>\n

Despite the story shifting to North Carolina, the show has continued to be shot in Scotland where it\u2019s been a boon to the local screen production industry and an ongoing advertisement for the landscape.<\/p>\n

No, the Scottish tourism board hasn\u2019t sent a thank-you haggis. \u201cI think we should get one. I feel like I should be made an honorary Scot at this point.\u201d<\/p>\n

But the Outlander universe is rolling on with one prequel so far, Outlander: Blood of My Blood. As for the legacy of the original show, Balfe hopes it will become \u201cpart of the furniture\u201d. \u201cThere are things like Northern Exposure, or Dr Quinn: Medicine Woman and it would be lovely to think that Outlander has a place in TV history.\u201d<\/p>\n

Since wrapping on the show she\u2019s already completed at least one movie \u2013 Tenzing, the Australian produced biographical drama of sherpa Tenzing Norgay, Sir Edmund Hillary\u2019s co-conqueror of Everest. She plays Jill Henderson, an Englishwoman who was the secretary of the Himalayan Club and acted as a go-between between the Sherpas and the climbing teams. She was reportedly instrumental in persuading Norgay to join the successful 1953 climbing expedition after two failed attempts in 1952 with a Swiss team left him unwilling. While some of the film, which stars Tom Hiddleston as Sir Ed, was filmed in New Zealand last year, Balfe\u2019s scenes were limited to the Nepalese section of the shoot. <\/p>\n

\u201cThe whole thing is about celebrating Edmund Hillary but also giving the proper dues to Tenzing. I think it\u2019s so beautiful the way that they\u2019re telling the story.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"ClaireClaire (Caitr\u00edona Balfe) and Jamie (Sam Heughan) during their first meeting. Photo \/ Supplied<\/p>\n

More than romance<\/p>\n

What keeps fans watching Outlander? Dionne Christian offers an explanation.<\/p>\n

I\u2019m not immune to the considerable kilted charms of Outlander\u2019s Jamie Fraser (Sam Heughan). Who doesn\u2019t want a partner who can rescue you from a witch trial, build you an Insta-worthy cottage in rural North Carolina and swear an oath to protect you with their body and soul, and actually mean it? But the \u201cromance that is the beating heart of Outlander\u201d is not what keeps me watching.<\/p>\n

Decades ago, in the first year of an honours degree, a number of classes were devoted to historical fiction and how useful it is in telling \u2013 teaching \u2013 history. This continues to interest me, so I come for the history. The TV gets turned off \u2013 1066 drama King & Conqueror, I\u2019m looking at you \u2013 if I feel too many liberties have been taken with \u201creimagining\u201d the past that\u2019s central to a series or film.<\/p>\n

Claire has far too many clothes, the wooden cottage is too picture-perfect and I tire of the number of times we hear that Claire\u2019s a healer, but Outlander shows enough of the past\u2019s nasty, brutish and short aspects to hint at what it might have been like. Would I want to time-travel back there? No, I prefer to experience it vicariously from the comfort of my living room, where I\u2019m less likely to cut myself harvesting turnips and die of sepsis. Although if Claire were there, it wouldn\u2019t be a problem, because she\u2019s a (very well-dressed) healer.<\/p>\n

I\u2019d argue more of us have learnt about Scottish history from watching Outlander than reading a textbook. A lead character, in Outlander\u2019s case a \u201cstrong woman\u201d, who can bring a different perspective to one found so frequently in dry and dusty nonfiction, with their emphases on battles, dates, rulers and what men were doing, will have more emotional resonance for a bigger percentage of the population.<\/p>\n

In another university class for another degree years later, a lecturer was talking about the push factors involved in migration to Aotearoa New Zealand, especially for many Scots. Despairing at the lack of knowledge demonstrated by the class, she turned to us and asked, \u201cDon\u2019t any of you even watch Outlander?\u201d<\/p>\n

The new season and previous seasons of Outlander are on Neon. The new season starts on Sky\u2019s Vibe channel from Tuesday, March 17, 8.30pm.<\/p>\n

Save<\/a>Share this article<\/p>\n

Reminder, this is a Premium article and requires a subscription to read.<\/p>\n

Copy LinkEmailFacebookTwitter\/XLinkedInReddit<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"By the time it finishes \u2013 and even she doesn\u2019t know how it all ends \u2013 Caitr\u00edona Balfe…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":321601,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[173686,22641,9092,8239,95,3378,1863,173682,11164,173681,15364,9193,173685,4527,2837,173687,13973,4726,11908,156,16863,2550,34093,9903,18791,5904,33035,29394,60044,1221,21170,71,305,1364,173688,78457,159741,29448,173683,78,28523,302,173689,9519,6036,424,2882,82008,636,9862,130,435,117,111,139,11515,69,166117,90,193,29594,13792,147210,35732,12971,112747,205,23334,18460,11063,4693,202,1305,7811,2737,173690,173684,223,2044,14344,15367,14450,6149,3807,102,377,6730,1530],"class_list":{"0":"post-321600","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-entertainment","8":"tag-18thcentury","9":"tag-20th","10":"tag-against","11":"tag-american","12":"tag-and","13":"tag-appeared","14":"tag-back","15":"tag-balfe","16":"tag-began","17":"tag-caitrona","18":"tag-century","19":"tag-claire","20":"tag-claires","21":"tag-doesnt","22":"tag-during","23":"tag-earthy","24":"tag-ed","25":"tag-ends","26":"tag-english","27":"tag-entertainment","28":"tag-episodes","29":"tag-even","30":"tag-eventual","31":"tag-fantasy","32":"tag-fighting","33":"tag-final","34":"tag-finishes","35":"tag-fling","36":"tag-followed","37":"tag-france","38":"tag-fraser","39":"tag-from","40":"tag-have","41":"tag-her","42":"tag-heughan","43":"tag-highland","44":"tag-highlander","45":"tag-highlands","46":"tag-hillarysherpa","47":"tag-in","48":"tag-indies","49":"tag-its","50":"tag-jacobite","51":"tag-jamie","52":"tag-know","53":"tag-life","54":"tag-love","55":"tag-mainly","56":"tag-marriage","57":"tag-meet","58":"tag-more","59":"tag-movie","60":"tag-new","61":"tag-new-zealand","62":"tag-newzealand","63":"tag-nurse","64":"tag-nz","65":"tag-occasionally","66":"tag-on","67":"tag-other","68":"tag-outlander","69":"tag-pair","70":"tag-randall","71":"tag-rebellion","72":"tag-returned","73":"tag-revolutionary","74":"tag-role","75":"tag-romantic","76":"tag-sam","77":"tag-scotland","78":"tag-seasons","79":"tag-seven","80":"tag-show","81":"tag-since","82":"tag-star","83":"tag-stopoffs","84":"tag-tenzing","85":"tag-the","86":"tag-time","87":"tag-travelling","88":"tag-troubled","89":"tag-visits","90":"tag-war","91":"tag-west","92":"tag-with","93":"tag-world","94":"tag-would","95":"tag-years"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/321600","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=321600"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/321600\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/321601"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=321600"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=321600"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=321600"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}