• “The smartest historical sci-fi adventure-romance story ever written by a science Ph.D. with a background in scripting 'Scrooge McDuck' comics.”—Salon.com
  • A time-hopping, continent-spanning salmagundi of genres.”
    —ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY
  • “These books have to be word-of-mouth books because they're too weird to describe to anybody.”
    —Jackie Cantor, Diana's first editor

Casting Overview – Outlander TV Series


Since OUTLANDER was published in 1990, readers have hoped that the book — and the other books in the series — would be adapted into video. Fervent and dedicated fans have created thousands of amateur Outlander “movie trailers,” imagining how they believe the story would look and which actors should play the major and minor roles. On multiple sites and discussion venues the world wide web has hosted thousands of discussions of who should be cast if a video version were ever made.

Thanks to Executive Producer Ron Moore, Tall Ship Productions, Sony, and the Starz network, the Outlander TV series is a reality! On these pages, information and images gathered about the actors cast to play everyone’s favorite OUTLANDER characters will be collected. Enjoy!

Outlander Roles and Cast

For more information on each role and actor, click on the entry below:

Main Roles:

  • Claire Beauchamp Randall Fraser (Catriona Balfe)
  • James Fraser (Sam Heughan)
  • Frank Randall (Tobias Menzies)
  • Jonathan “Black Jack” Randall (Tobias Menzies)

The Outlander cast, in alphabetical order by the character’s last name:

  • Mrs. Baird (Kathryn Howden), owns a bed and breakfast in Inverness, where Claire and Frank Randall visit after World War II.
  • Duke of Sandringham (Simon Callow)
  • Geillis Duncan (Lotte Verbeek)
  • Mrs. Fitzgibbons (Annette Badland)
  • Murtagh Fitzgibbons Fraser (Duncan Lacroix)
  • Uncle Lamb (Prentis Hancock)
  • Alec McMahon MacKenzie, or “Old Alec” (Liam Carney), Master of Horse at Castle Leoch
  • Colum MacKenzie (Gary Lewis)
  • Dougal MacKenzie (Graham McTavish)
  • “Wee” Hamish MacKenzie (Roderick Gilkison)
  • Laoghaire MacKenzie (Nell Hudson)
  • Letitia MacKenzie (Aislin McGuckin), wife of Colum
  • Rupert MacKenzie (Grant O’Rourke)
  • Angus Mhor (Stephen Walters)
  • Jenny Fraser Murray (Laura Donnelly), Jamie’s sister
  • Reverend Reginald Wakefield (James Fleet)
  • Mrs. Graham (Tracy Wilkinson), housekeeper with unique talents and abilities who works for Reverend Wakefield. Also a druid and gifted in the supernatural.

Unnamed Cast or First Names Only:

  • Army Sargeant (Adam Smith)
  • Geordie (Bryan Larkin)
  • Servant Girl (Miranda Carroll)
  • Servant Girl (Saskia Grace Robinson)

Information on the Outlander TV series, including the cast, is also available on the Stars Outlander TV series home page.

U.K. Actors In All Major and Minor Roles

Actors solely from the United Kingdom were cast into all of the major and minor roles of the Outlander TV series. Relieved readers around the world seemed to breathe a collective sigh of relief, as many had worried online (and often) about the Scottish and English accents being correct if American or other non-U.K. actors were chosen.

Is Diana Happy With The Cast?

The first role cast was Sam Heughan as James Frasier. Then other actors were chosen for many of the roles, but the Search for Claire took longer. Finally, Catriona Balfe was chosen. Is Diana happy with the leading man and woman in the series? In short, she is delighted! Stories about Diana’s reactions to casting videos and chosen actors, such as the stories behind casting Jamie and Claire, will be included on each individual character casting page.

While Diana works hard on writing book eight of the Outlander series, WRITTEN IN MY OWN HEART’S BLOOD (aka “MOBY”), she took a little time out to give feedback on the casting process and choices to Ron Moore and the casting crew. The fact that the production staff asks for Diana’s input, and does their best to implement her thoughts and ideas, should reassure readers that this production will be as true to her books as possible!