Outlander sex scenes were, says Sam Heughan, ‘pretty tough’ in season 1 and he ‘didn’t feel that supported’

Heughan, who plays 18th-century Scottish warrior Jamie, says filming some of the sexual moments for the first season of the show wasn’t an easy experience

A pivotal moment saw Jamie sexually assaulted, and the actor says he was not as supported as he could have been – something he changed for season 6

2-MIN READ2-MIN

Sam Heughan says filming some of the sexual moments during the first season of Outlander wasn’t an easy experience. Photo: Reuters

Published: 7:15pm, 10 Mar 2022

Historical drama Outlander has featured lots of on-screen sex throughout its six seasons and counting.

And Sam Heughan, who plays Jamie on the show on US cable channel Starz, revealed that filming some of these sexual moments during the first season wasn’t an easy experience.

“On a personal note, they are always pretty uncomfortable. It’s not the most natural thing,” Heughan says of the show’s sex scenes. “Certainly for my character, having to go through the assault and rape at the end of the first season was pretty tough.”

At the end of the show’s first season, Heughan’s character, Jamie Fraser – an 18th-century Scottish warrior – is captured by Jonathan “Black Jack” Randall (Tobias Menzies), a cruel and sadistic British officer.

In exchange for letting Jamie’s wife, Claire (a time-travelling World War II nurse played by Caitríona Balfe) escape, Jamie submits to Randall’s demands, and ends up being repeatedly tortured and sexually assaulted by Randall. Claire, with the help of Jamie’s Highlander kin, eventually rescues her husband, and the two flee Scotland at the end of season one.