Outlander star Sam Heughan revealed he is avoiding 'old man acting' when playing the ageing Jamie Fraser on the show.
The 41-year-old actor is best known for his role as Highland warrior Jamie Fraser in Diana Gabaldon's fantasy series, alongside Caitriona Balfe who plays his on-screen wife Claire Fraser.
The sixth instalment of Outlander picks up just after season five ends, and is based on Gabaldon's book, A Breath of Snow and Ashes, where both Jamie and Claire are approaching middle age.
In a recent interview with InStyle, Sam admitted he prefers to use subtle clues like Jamie's reading glasses to mark the passing of time, instead of typical 'old man' acting.
"I think he's just, he's still the same guy, obviously," says Heughan of aging Jamie 25 years in the most recent seasons.
"It's just that he's more grounded — sturdier. Maybe he doesn't operate as hot. It's an internal feeling, as opposed to doing 'old man' acting."
During season six, Claire will start off the series aged 57 and Jamie aged 52 and if it's following the same time-span as the books it will be based in 1773-1776.
This means that Claire and Jamie should be 60 and 55 respectively by the end of Outlander season 6.
According to author Diana Gabaldon, Claire was born in October 1918 and Jamie was born in 1721 and despite technically being 197 years apart - the pair meet in 1743 after Claire's time travel.
Though the books have Claire time traveling from the year 1946, the Starz series has her journey from 1945, which means that, in the TV series, Claire meets Jamie when he is 22 and she is 27.
Caitriona Balfe admitted that it's refreshing to play an 'older women' on TV.
When a fan asked if she found it hard to see herself with wrinkles and grey hair as her character ages, she responded: "No it’s good....
"It helps counter balance all the crap pressure I feel from all the bombardment of pictures and ads about how we should all look like teenagers. We shouldn’t.
"Wrinkles equals time equals life ... trying to love them #AskCait "
Have you seen the latest episodes of Outlander? Let us know in the comments.
Outlander season six airs Sundays in the UK on STARZPLAY.
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