Outlander's leading lady Caitriona Balfe feared she was 'too skinny' to be cast as Claire Fraser in the historical fantasy series.
The Irish actress, 42, was cast alongside Sam Heughan - who plays her on-screen husband Highland warrior Jamie Fraser - with her character being a firm fan favourite.
With a new season coming out on Starz soon, Caitriona revealed she wasn’t always considered the perfect actress for the job.
Caitriona, 42, who was a successful runway model before leaving the industry, doesn't actually match the physical description of her character in the books.
Claire Fraser is described as being 5 foot 6 inches tall with light brown hair curly and striking golden eyes, which is the opposite of Caitriona's 5 foot 9 height, tall slender body and dark brown hair.
However, the actress believes it's important for actors to embody the 'essence' of a character instead of just matching a description.
“Claire is often talked about as having a very plump rear end and I know they felt I was too tall and too skinny,” she admitted to RadioTimes.
Caitriona opened up about this worry to the Rolling Stone back in 2016 and said: “I think the initial reaction to my casting was like ‘Well, she's too tall, and she's too skinny, she doesn't have brown eyes and her hair's not curly!’
“The thing is, everyone has a subjective vision of what these characters are supposed to look like. When you're casting anything, hopefully they're looking for people who embody the character in an essence way rather than just the physical.
"But once the show aired, the fans have have really transferred their love over from the book series to our show, which is fantastic."
Despite Claire being described as being five foot six and slightly plumper in the books, fans have looked past the physical differences and Caitriona has been accepted as the definitive version of the character.
In a recent interview with Radio Times Caitriona teased what's in store for her character in the upcoming season of Outlander.
Season six will see Claire deal with the aftermath of her horrific sexual assault at the end of the last season as she battles PTSD.
She told Radio Times: "Even before we filmed it, we had already started the conversations about how important it was to see the recovery and the fallout,"
"I'm so grateful that our writers were prepared to give a lot of air time to that.
"I also think it's important that we see a character like Claire, who often gets this moniker of being a 'strong female', that whether you appear to be strong on the outside, something like this will really shake you to your core.
"For Claire, who's always been able to compartmentalise and move on from traumas before, we see her experience PTSD and make some missteps along her journey of recovery."
Do you think Caitriona was the right casting choice? Let us know in the comments.
Outlander season 6 will premiere on StarzPlay in the UK on Sunday 6 March 2022.
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