Outlander ’s Sam Heughan has revealed he had a behind-the-scenes dispute over on-screen nudity which left him feeling “betrayed”.
The telly star, 42, plays Jamie Frazer in the Starz drama. At the end of season 1, his character was the subject of a harrowing storyline where he was raped by Frank Randall, played by Tobias Menzies.
Explaining how he felt made to do the “unnecessary” full frontal scene, Sam told how he felt the combination of extreme sexual violence and nudity didn’t compliment each other.
"This wasn't a moment where I felt that being naked would add to the horror of what Jamie undergoes in that castle dungeon as a form of punishment, subjugation and humiliation," Heughan wrote in his new memoir Waypoints: My Scottish Journey.
Sam noted that he was contractually required to be naked in the series, and pointed out that the series has "never turned away from sexual violence,” but still felt the nude element wasn’t needed.
"Times have changed. The c**k shot was unnecessary and did betray my trust in the creative team a bit," he explains. "We don't need to see the horror to imagine what the characters go through. Imagination is way more powerful."
"I pushed back, reasoning that nudity sexualized a horrific experience for my character, and it sparked quite a debate. Creative conversations are a feature of all productions, good art is made by questioning the truth and we all want to get it right," Sam said.
Eventually, Sam and the creative team agreed to show his characters nude body only in the aftermath of the horrific assault, leaving the explicit shots “on the cutting room floor”.
Sam, who’s played Jamie Fraser since the series premiered in 2014, said the situation "would have been handled differently" today.
He became a producer on the show in 2019 and brought on an intimacy coordinator as one of his first appointments.
"It's important that everyone is protected, but also we find a way to explore these scenes and actually maybe get something more out of them," Heughan said.
Outlander is based on the books by Diana Gabaldon and stars Caitriona Balfe – who’s also now a producer – as Claire Randall.
Claire is a WWII-era nurse in the British Army who finds herself transported to 1743 where she chooses to marry Scots warrior Jamie out of survivor.
The popular show began shooting its seventh season in April.
