‘Outlander’: Tom Christie Actor Says His Character’s Family Brings ‘Good Drama’ to Season 6
There’s a new family at Fraser’s Ridge, and they’re going to cause some trouble for Jamie and Claire. The Christies – Tom and his children Malva and Allan – are set to be a major force in Outlander Season 6. The family clashes with the Frasers and challenges the “status quo,” according to Mark Lewis Jones, who plays the Christie family patriarch.
Tom Christie and his family arrives at Fraser’s Ridge in ‘Outlander’ Season 6
Outlander Season 6 picks up some time after the devastating events at the end of season 5. The American Revolution is brewing, and Jamie (Sam Heughan) and Claire (Caitríona Balfe) are facing increasing conflict at the home they’ve built for themselves at Fraser’s Ridge, especially when the Christie family arrives, bringing trouble with them.
Tom knows Jamie from their time at Ardsmuir Prison, where both were imprisoned for their role in the Jacobite rebellion. But their shared past doesn’t mean the two men always see eye-to-eye.
“We have this family, the Christies, that arrive at the Ridge, and they initially are integrated into the new community, but very soon we start to see a lot of the history that’s between Tom and Jamie really get under the skin of everyone,” Heughan said during a panel discussion at New York Comic Con in October 2021 (via Us Weekly). “And it starts to sort of disintegrate or decay what Claire and Jamie have built at Fraser’s Ridge.”
Mark Lewis Jones weighs in on how the Christies change the dynamic at Fraser’s Ridge
Jones concurs that his character introduces a new element into the dynamic at Fraser’s Ridge, which will be explored in Outlander Season 6.
“He’s a character that’s kind of known but we haven’t really seen him yet. We haven’t properly met,” Jones said in a video shared on Twitter. “He arrives on Fraser’s Ridge and there’s history between him and Jamie Fraser.”
Religion is a point of disagreement between the two, the actor added, who described his character as “Protestant to the core.”
“Tom represents a change to the status quo, I think,” he said. “He has difficulty with Jamie Fraser’s worldview.”
The result? A lot of juicy conflict for the show’s upcoming eight episodes.
“I think the Christies bring in a whole new force that disrupts and creates a lot of good drama,” Lewis said.
The Christies aren’t the only source of conflict in the next season of ‘Outlander’
Troublesome new neighbors aren’t the only challenge Jamie and Claire face next season. War is on the horizon.
“It’s starting,” Claire says in a teaser for the new season (via YouTube). “If only they knew what was coming.”
Conflict with the Native American tribes is also brewing.
“It would be a shame if our Indian neighbors became our enemies,” Young Ian (John Bell) says. Later, he clashes with Jamie over the issue of the area’s indigenous inhabitants, telling his uncle that if he won’t help them, then he will.
Meanwhile, Jamie may finally have to choose sides in the coming conflict.
“I canna be two things at once, Claire,” he says. “A rebel. A loyalist. An agent for the crown and an enemy of the king.”
Outlander Season 6 premieres Sunday, March 6 at 9 p.m. ET on Starz.
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