Sam Heughan has opened up about the time he felt 'betrayed' by Outlander producers during the filming of a graphic sexual assault scene.
The Dumfries-born actor, who has played the titular role of Jamie Fraser on the show since 2014, spent much of the earlier seasons facing off against Jonathan ‘Black Jack’ Randall, played by Tobias Menzies.
When Sam, 42, first joined the show he agreed to do nude scenes in his contract but in his new memoir, Waypoints: My Scottish Journey, he admitted he felt "betrayed" when show bosses tried to push his limits.
The Suspect actor says Outlander bosses pushed to showcase more of his genitals following the sexual assault scene between Jamie and Black Jack Randall. Despite stating in his contract he was comfortable performing nude, Sam discussed how he felt after a shot of his penis was filmed for the show.
At the end of Outlander's first season, Jamie is kidnapped and tortured by Randall, who is the ancestor of his time travelling wife Claire's husband. The actor expressed his thoughts to producers that showing his genitals would only sexualise the scene, and wouldn't add anything substantial to the already horrific moment for his beloved character.
“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,” he wrote. “I pushed back, reasoning that nudity sexualised a horrific experience for my character, and it sparked quite a debate.”
In the end, showrunners agreed with Sam and the scene was changed, and viewers instead saw Jamie sprawled across the dungeon floor following the assault. Despite the amendment, the Scots actor found that one of the hardest scenes he has ever had to film.
He continued: “Creative conversations are a feature of all productions, good art is made by questioning the truth and we all want to get it right. Those closing scenes were incredibly challenging to film. Even though, thankfully the nude shots ended on the cutting room floor. It was a harrowing, exhausting experience.”
To this day, Sam still believes the debate which was sparked by his complaints betrayed his trust in the show’s creative team, and he maintains the shot wouldn’t have been filmed today.
“Times have changed,” he continued. “The c**k shot was unnecessary and did betray my trust in the creative team a bit. We don't need to see the horror to imagine what the characters go through. Imagination is way more powerful.”
He has previously opened up to Vulture in 2015 about how uncomfortable he felt filming long nude sequences for the first season. “They said, ‘We’d love one more wide shot of it, the whole thing,'” he recalled.
"And I was like... [groans], ‘Oh God.’ I thought I'd gotten it all out of the way. And they said, ‘We'll only do it up to a certain point, just before it happens.'”
However, the scene’s director and production team failed to call “cut”, so Sam felt forced to carry on the challenging sequence. “I think they did it to me on purpose, just to go there,” he went on to admit.
Starting in the sixth season, Outlander bosses hired an intimacy coordinator to work alongside the stars to ensure everyone is comfortable, safe and happy filming sex scenes on camera now.
Outlander seasons 1-6 are available on Starz in the USA and Lionsgate+ via Amazon Prime Video in the UK.
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