‘Outlander’ Fans Are Baffled By a Mysterious Creature on Sam Heughan’s ‘Men in Kilts’
Outlander star Sam Heughan had an unexpectedly long break from the STARZ series this past year thanks to the pandemic. But the 40-year-old Scot managed to keep himself extremely busy during the latest Droughtlander.
Not only did he film a new movie with Priyanka Chopra-Jonas. He also shot a new STARZ series – Men in Kilts – and wrote a companion book. His “wee show” premiered on Valentine’s Day, and a mysterious creature appeared that baffled fans.
‘Outlander’ made Heughan realize how much he loves Scotland
For five seasons, Outlander has delighted fans with its portrayal of 18th century highlander culture. The show has made travel destinations out of numerous locations in Scotland. It’s also made a star out of Heughan.
Now, the actor is showing off his love for his home country in his new roadtrip series Men in Kilts. In the new STARZ show, Heughan and his Outlander co-star Graham McTavish give fans a crash course in Scottish culture as they roadtrip through the country exploring everything from food and drink to sports and dance.
“Outlander made me realize how much I love Scotland, how much I didn’t know about Scotland,” Heughan told The New York Times. “But also how much I knew and learned as a child, but wasn’t really aware of.”
He says that the idea for Men In Kilts came about during the first two seasons of Outlander. Then, by chance, he was having a beer with McTavish in Los Angeles. And he mentioned his idea for a documentary series about Scotland.
“Two years ago, I just started thinking, why don’t we just do it?” Heughan explained. “So while shooting Outlander, we managed to organize a crew and some locations and got it all together. We produced a sort of pilot episode that we could pitch to Starz and [Sony Pictures Television, the producing studio], and it progressed from there.”
Sam Heughan learned a lot of new things about Scotland while shooting ‘Men in Kilts’
While traveling around Scotland with McTavish, Heughan says he learned a lot of new things about his home country. The actor says they just touched the surface of what the country has to offer. But, one thing he discovered was that Scottish seafood is “the best in the world.”
“Even Scottish fruit is amazing. It’s not just whisky and haggis, though of course we do look at that on the show,” Heughan said. “I really just wanted to share my love of Scotland and its landscape, culture and music.”
Heughan noted that Ceilidh dancing – or Scottish dancing – is part of his heritage. But, people don’t know about it, and that’s disappointing for Heughan. He wishes everyone could experience it because “they’re the best fun ever.”
Heughan also discussed his relationship with McTavish. He described working with him again as “two almost middle-aged white males trying to prove to the other one that we’ve got it what it takes. And, we really don’t.”
‘Outlander’ fans are baffled by a mysterious creature on ‘Men in Kilts’
While making their new show, Heughan and McTavish were out on the water doing some fishing when a mysterious sea creature appeared. According to The Daily Record, Heughan picked up the flesh colored blob and took a look at it before throwing it back in the water.
“Oh my god. What is that? that’s disgusting. I’m not hungry anymore,” Heughan said.
Later, Heughan asked viewers if they would help him identify the unidentified creature. The suggestions started coming in fast, with one fan thinking it could be a sea nipple and others calling it a blobfish.
”Someone else said a geoduck, but I am not sure! The best answer I saw was a rare sea haggis…lol!” one fan wrote. Another added, “Lol don’t know what it was but, looked similar to what is known as a blowfish. As once it’s caught and leaves the water it blows up, unbeatable here in Australia.”
Other suggestions included a Sea Pork, a clam, a sea potato, and escargot. Outlander author Diana Gabaldon also chimed into the conversation because she has a master of science in marine biology.
‘It looks like a closed anemone,” Gabaldon wrote. “They open — with the long, streaming tentacles that make them look like flowers — when the tide comes in, bringing food. When the tide goes out, they draw in their tentacles and close, to avoid dehydration.”
Seasons 1 through 5 of Outlander are available on the STARZ app and Amazon Prime Video. New episodes of Men in Kilts air Sunday nights on STARZ.
