Those who've been keeping up with the Outlander Instagram know that author Diana Gabaldon has taken over the Starz drama's feed during her trip to Scotland to visit the set of the series. So it's not entirely surprising to learn that she's landed herself a speaking role in the adaptation of her beloved book series. It's not a major role, but it sounds like it'll be a bit bigger than a background spot.
Here's one of the recently posted Instagram photos, which shows us Gabaldon walking behind series creator/developer Ronald D. Moore looking all kilted up and ready for work...
From the visible equipment in the photo, it looks like they might be filming Gabaldon's tour of the set, which makes me wonder/hope we'll see a new production featurette sometime in the near future...
Based on Diana Gabaldon's series of novels, Outlander is set (mostly) in 18th century Scotland and centers on Claire (Caitriona Balfe), a World War II combat nurse who's on vacation with her husband when she visits a mysterious rock formation and is thrown back through time. She's eventually forced to marry the gallant young warrior Jamie Fraser (Sam Heughan). Starz has no official premiere date set for the drama, but they do confirm that it's expected to debut this summer.
(Via EW) Gabaldon posted a lengthy description of her recent visit to the set on her Facebook page. She says she was originally asked to be an extra on the show, but doing that would've meant standing in the same spot for three days, so instead, they're giving her a small speaking role. She says writer Matt Roberts is penning a "tiny scenelet" for her. It'll be just a couple of lines of dialogue that can be filmed pretty quickly.
The lady in question is at the Gathering, and the scenelet in question takes place in one of the galleries over the Great Hall. I’m not supposed to post set photos or describe the sets in great detail—but hey, you’ve read the book; you know what it looks like.
So fans will have to be on the lookout for when Gabaldon makes her appearance. Given that we know four episodes are already done, it's probably fair to assume it'll be Episode 5 or after. In the meantime, at least we know she'll be featured a bit more prominently than originally planned.
Gabaldon's post goes on to describe some of the production and how incredibly hot it was on set, between the lights on everything and the heavy costumes they were wearing. It sounds like her discomfort in her costume, which involved high heals and a lot of confining wool and velvet, was enough to help her forget to be nervous about saying her lines.
Here's one of the photos she posted along with the entry:
Post by Diana Gabaldon.
As mentioned, Starz hasn't given us a premiere date yet, but they have been teasing the series after Black Sails each Saturday night with this trailer, to remind us that it's on the way...
Keep up with our Outlander coverage here!
