Outlander fans rejoice! Not only is the cruel Droughtlander finally about to end tonight (April 4), but the infamous, highly-anticipated spanking scene from Diana Gabaldon’s book series comes to life in the midseason premiere, The Reckoning.
We had a chance to screen the episode at the #TartanAffair premiere event in New York, and while the largely female crowd ate up the scene in which Jamie taught Claire a Christian Grey-esque lesson, Heughan told us that the Outlander cast and crew made sure that the serious implications of this scene were felt.
“It was definitely a very important lesson.”
MTV News had a chance to sit down with hunky heart throb Sam Heughan to talk about that scene and what we can expect the rest of the this season.
“You have to get into the mindset of the period of the 1700s,” Heughan told MTV News when he stopped by their NYC studio. “Jamie has been brought up this way, with a very strict upbringing. He knows it’s his duty, he knows he’s got to do this, he’s got to punish her… Obviously, to a modern audience, this is strange to get your head around, but yes — it was definitely a very important lesson.”
This “lesson” involves the repercussions from Claire getting captured by Captain Jack Randall (Tobias Menzies) in the midseason finale, which will set up a lot of the action moving forward this season. It’s not great news for Jamie, but Heughan says that the big spank will at least help his character more forward in his new marriage.
“They both learned very quickly about their relationship, and about how things should be,” Heughan continued. “He’s a progressive man, and learns that maybe this is not the way to treat someone.”
