Outlander is gearing up for its third season on Starz, and if you know anything about the third book in the fantasy series Outlander is based on, you should know that a whole slew of brand new characters are going to be introduced. One of these is fan-favorite Lord John Grey, and this week Starz has finally gotten around to casting the character. We have to say, it's not exactly who we expected. A Place To Call Home's David Berry has been cast in the prominent role.
In my head, Lord John Grey is generally an older gentleman, although because of the flashback narratives present in the book Voyager and the way that Outlander has also used changing timelines to tell its story, it makes sense that Lord John Grey would be played by a younger actor, similar to how Claire and Jamie are in their thirties in real life, but have and will continue to have to play older characters in the narrative.
It's not just that David Berry is younger looking, however. He really looks nothing like the small and "fine-boned" Lord John Grey that Diana Gabaldon has described. Her book character is just over 5 ½ feet tall and notably, he has blonde hair. David Berry has dark hair and is reportedly 6' 1'', which doubtless makes it easier to film scenes opposite the hulking Sam Heughan, but those are still pretty big differences.
We'd be remiss if we didn't note that Outlander fans have already seen the younger version of Lord John Grey, who did have darker hair--or at least seemed to in the lighting of the Season 2 episode. A much younger version of the character met Claire and Jamie during the Jacobite Rebellion and gave Claire helpful information about the British army when she deceived him.
I don't really want to get into super huge Season 3 spoilers, but you should know that Lord John Grey is a very important character in the Outlander universe and we will meet him under very different circumstances during the new episodes. A report from Starz straight up says that when we will meet an adult Lord John Grey, a scandal that has arisen from his past will have forced him into an unsavory position heading up a prison in Scotland. He also has a strong "moral compass," according to the network, so go ahead and chew on that.
For his part, David Berry currently has plenty of experience playing a man dealing with a secret in a period drama. His A Place To Call Home character is a man who is married but who is secretly gay and has to deal with the trials, tribulations and horrors of being a gay man in the 1950s. Outlander is obviously set a few centuries before A Place To Call Home, but any period drama experience is good experience, right?
Outlander currently does not have a specified return date for Season 3, but we do know a lot about what is coming. To find out what we know about Season 3 on Starz, head here. In addition, be sure to check out our fall TV premiere schedule to see when your favorite shows are returning.
