‘Outlander’ Star Caitriona Balfe Teases Claire Will Have to Change Her Ways In Season 6
In Outlander, Claire Frasier is a strong, skilled doctor who often ends up taking care of everyone except herself. But after what she went through in season 5, series star Caitriona Balfe says Claire will have to change some of her ways in Outlander Season 6.
‘Outlander’ Season 5 featured some of Claire’s toughest moments
Claire Frasier (Caitriona Balfe) and her husband, Jamie Frasier (Sam Heughan) have been through hell and back several times over. But in the final episodes of Outlander Season 5, Claire faced some of the brutal moments of her life.
In Episode 12, “Never My Love,” Lionel Brown (Ned Dennehy) seeks revenge on Jamie for turning down his request for help. And after realizing Claire is the one advising women to exercise birth control as Dr. Rawling, he and his men kidnap her.
The men tie Claire up and then beat and rape her. She is eventually saved by Jamie, who brings her back to Frasier’s Ridge. But rather than deal with her emotions and trauma, Claire gets right back into caring for the people and situation around her.
Caitriona Balfe says Claire will have to change in ‘Outlander’ Season 6
Balfe has been portraying Claire Frasier since 2014. And in a recent chat with Gold Derby, the actor revealed that she enjoyed diving into the character even more in season 6.
“I’m really excited,” the Outlander star said. “I think I got to explore some things with Claire this season that I haven’t before. You know when you’re talking about a sixth season of a TV show, you get to find out new things about your character and explore them in a new way, that’s amazing.”
Balfe noted that after the trauma Claire suffered in season 5, she went right back into leader mode. But she teased that the doctor will have to step back for a change and work through her emotions.
“I think after the events that happened at the end of season five, we have a long time where Claire needs a long time to sort of really heal. And I think she might be known to be a little bit
stubborn. But I think she doesn’t allow herself the sort of time to do that and I think one of the things that she discovers is that her old way of dealing with things, her old coping mechanisms,
mainly compartmentalizing things and not really dealing with them, it doesn’t serve her very much anymore. So she’s having to discover whole new things about herself. Her and Jamie’s relationship is obviously going to have to evolve because of that too.”
Caitriona Balfe says the shortened season will be full of action
Outlander Season 6 will not just focus on Claire’s emotional evolution. It will also feature ongoing drama in Frasier’s Ridge. Along with the addition of a few shady new residents, the show will find Jamie and Claire facing the impending revolution.
“It’s a bit of a truncated season, but it’s very… there’s a lot going on,” Balfe said during an appearance on the Variety’s Awards Circuit podcast. “There’s some new people that arrive at the Ridge and they really kind of throw things into disarray.”
The new season premieres on March 6, 2022 on Starz..
