We Have ‘Blood of My Blood’s Most Despicable Villain To Thank for Eight Seasons of ’Outlander’

Editor’s note: The following contains spoilers for Outlander: Blood of My Blood Season 2, Episode 8.

In Episode 8 of Season 2 of the Starz series Outlander: Blood of My Blood, entitled “The Dance,” Lord Lovat (Tony Curran) brings Julia (Hermione Corfield) to an event honoring Loyalist Lairds who fought against Jacobites in the Rebellion, which really makes him feel like he’s flying high with his newfound respect from the upper echelon. When Lovat meets Margaret Grant (Erin Shanagher) there’s an immediate attraction that proves problematic seeing as he already has a wife. Malcolm lets Lovat know that if marriage with Margaret were to happen, he’d have to get rid of Julia first, but Julia is not stupid and sees what’s developing right in front of her, leaving her to wonder whether Lovat will divorce or kill her.

Collider recently got the opportunity to chat with Curran about Lord Lovat’s peacocking and what his interest in Margaret might mean moving forward. During the interview, he discussed how vain and villainous his character is, viewing the hate mail he gets as a badge of honor, the horrible thing he did to Ellen (Harriet Slater) and his surprise at Brian’s (Jamie Roy) reaction, what Lovat hopes to gain from Margaret, and where things will go next.

Lord Lovat Is More Insufferable Than Usual in ‘Outlander: Blood of My Blood’ Season 2

“I get hate mail, which I take as a badge of honor.”

Image via Starz

Simon Fraser being called the Hero of Inverness is a change for Lord Lovat.

TONY CURRAN: Isn’t that a contradiction of terms? It’s hilarious.

Is he feeling high and mighty right now, at this moment of his life? Is he just puffed up?

CURRAN: It’s so funny. There is a clownishness and a completely ridiculous nature to this man. I get hate mail, which I take as a badge of honor. I’ve played some despicable, nasty [characters] in my time, but he’s particularly Machiavellian. He’s got an operatic floating nature to his rhetoric that the lovely writers put pen to paper to create. He’s a lot of fun to play, but he’s becoming, day by day, even more insufferable. He’s like an old dame, going to the ball. That’s the way I pictured it. He’s an old peacock. He’s a little vain, and he wants to look pretty and handsome for the other people there who are of the upper echelon.

How does it feel to play a character that everybody is probably rooting for the demise of?

CURRAN: Yeah. It’s a lot of fun, truth be told. A lot of villains, or any character really, are a catalyst. You just don’t know what’s going to come out of his mouth or what he’s going to do next or who he’s going to do next, as it were. He’s very uncompromising and he’s very vengeful. Now he’s got a silver medal from the king, which is obviously better than a bronze medal for Malcolm. His feathers are up. He’s peacocking. His hair is done. He’s clean-shaven. He’s got these wonderful glad rags on. It feels like he’s back to where he should be, at the king’s table at the top of the pile.

Tony Curran Doesn’t Think Lovat Had Much Guilt Over What He Did to Ellen in ‘Outlander: Blood of My Blood’ Season 2

“Lovat is very black and white. There’s no gray area with him.”

Image via Starz

It’s unforgivable what he did to Ellen, forcing her to miscarry. Whether he actually took away her ability to ever have a child or not, it’s a horrible thing to do to someone. What was your reaction to that? Do you think he ever hesitated at all about following through with it?

CURRAN: No. They’ve got me to thank for eight seasons of Outlander because, basically, it didn’t actually work. For some reason, I didn’t put enough poison in the wine because, at some juncture, my boy and Ellen do have a child, gosh darn it, and it maybe gets in the way of the prophecy. But I don’t think he ever hesitated. I think that’s what is so surprising and shocking about it. That was fun for us to play, as actors, with the nuances and the subtleties of a happy homecoming and meal with my daughter-in-law that actually has a very dark side to it and an end game, if you will, in more ways than three.

For Ellen, Harriet [Slater]’s performance was incredible as she’s losing the baby because of what Lovat did. There is a moment when Julia confronts Lovat in his bedchamber and says, “You poisoned the wine.” A lot of it was meant to be clandestine. He was going to be like, “Oh, she’s miscarried. Brian, I’m so sorry. I had her life saved, her and Grace, from that awful MacKinney man, and I brought her back, and we were waiting for you to return.” That would have been the chat. But Julia is not stupid. She noticed that I wasn’t drinking too much, although I was still a bit hazy myself. And then, I ended up saying, “You know what? Yeah, I bloody well did poison her because we need to have our son go on the throne and the prophecy must be fulfilled.” She was apoplectic that I would do such a horrendous thing.

I think there was a moment where I said to the director, “Should there be a little bit of guilt here? This is an awful bloody thing to do to a person, a woman, a womb.” And he was like, “I don’t know.” We tried to give it a little flavor of regret, but I don’t really think there was much. It gives it a bit more color. I think Lovat is very black and white. There’s no gray area with him. But when he’s playing the generous host, he gets to perform, and Lovat’s life is a performance. All the world’s a stage. As soon as he gets his medal from the king, he sees Lady Margaret as a prize. If he marries Lady Margaret, which historically, by all accounts, did happen, then that’s bigamy.

What was that scene like to shoot with Jamie Roy – that moment when Lovat has the realization that this is not just a threat and that Brian actually really intends to kill his father?

CURRAN: There was a period of episodes where that had been bubbling away. Obviously, finding out what I did to Ellen, and then having that attitude of nonchalance, being like, “Well, you put your cock before your family and before your clan.” He’s always putting him down and constantly berating him and Ellen, and he’d had enough. I remember that day, Jamie was somewhat volcanic. I could see him standing in the corner. There’s a picture I have of him just standing there with his head down, and there’s his back with that incredible leather jacket and his kilt. It was just him getting ready for that. So, I knew I was in trouble. It was simmering away. But I liked the idea that it was very sudden when he came at me.

It was an exciting scene to shoot. He pushed me, way across the room. There were a lot of different ideas for that scene. Lovat tried to fight back, but he’s an older man, and this young man has just come back from fighting the Battle of Sheriffmuir, which he survived. He’s got this vengeance in his soul for what I’ve done to Ellen. Jamie was bubbling away. It definitely gets your adrenaline going. It was very exciting to shoot that scene. And then, thank God, Davina and Julia showed up or I might not have lasted the episode.

That meeting between Lovat and Margaret is so interesting because he seems to view her a little bit differently than he views most woman. He doesn’t seem to have a lot of respect for most women. What do you think it is about her that that is a little bit different for him?

CURRAN: Affluence. Erin Shanagher, who plays Lady Margaret, is a lot of fun. She’s such a breath of fresh air. You’ve got all these wonderful characters coming in, and she’s a piston. She’s a firecracker. I think Lovat really responds to that. She’s obviously affluent, or he thinks she is. She’s asking Malcolm Grant for money. He’s a little smitten with her. She definitely catches his eye. Obviously, anything to get one up on Malcolm Grant. Although Malcolm suggests that they get together, he doesn’t really like it when they actually get together. He’s like, “Get a room!,” when they’re canoodling in a stairwell. He’s social climbing, old Lovat, and he’s gotten to a perch now that he likes where he is. He doesn’t want to fall back down, so she could have a real part to play in that rise.

You mentioned Julia being a smart woman, and she notices pretty quickly that something is going on with the two of them. Do you think Lovat would ever divorce her, or is he more likely to kill her than divorce her?

CURRAN: I think maybe the latter. He’ll just sweep her aside, or she’ll just disappear. That Grant girl seemed to disappear, old Seema. The whole marriage was a sham anyway, in Season 1. There’s nothing that he wouldn’t do that benefits him, and he’ll cut corners. He’s an old narcissist.

Tony Curran Teases What’s Next for Lord Lovat in ‘Outlander: Blood of My Blood’ Season 2

“There’s the danger of what he’s going to do with Julia.”

What can you say to tease what’s still to come for Lovat, after this episode? Where does he go from here?

CURRAN: He may well marry Lady Grant. And then, there’s the danger of what he’s going to do with Julia. But there’s also Brian. Are they ever going to see each other again, after what happened? I didn’t expect him to try to kill me. I thought he never would. I didn’t think he had the gonads to do what he did to me. Maybe there’s just something in Lovat’s twisted mind where he’s like, “Oh, this is great. If he could behave like this to my enemies, with this strength and passion and fire, and I could turn that on them and not me, then Brian could be very useful.” Maybe in the future, Lovat could become more of a dad. It’s a dangerous game that he’s playing with Malcolm Grant, as well, siding with the crown and not the Jacobites. And then, there’s Dougal Mackenzie and the Mackenzie side of things. I betrayed him and his friend Angus died, so there may be some vengeance in the pipeline there, but I can’t say for sure.

Outlander: Blood of My Blood airs on Starz.

Release Date

August 8, 2025

Showrunner

Matthew B. Roberts

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  Harriet Slater

  Ellen MacKenzie

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