Outlander: Blood of My Blood Cast Reacts to the Season 1 Finale Twist No One Saw Coming

Heads up: major spoilers for the Outlander: Blood of My Blood season 1 finale.

That was not a gentle finale. Blood of My Blood wraps its first season with two big swings: a time-travel cliffhanger and a death nobody had on their finale bingo card. The prequel finally pays off the story Jamie once told Claire about how his parents escaped Castle Leoch, and it does it with a lot more blood than anyone expected.

The escape we were promised, plus a twist

If you remember Outlander season 1, Jamie tells Claire that his parents, Brian Fraser and Ellen MacKenzie, slipped out of Castle Leoch while hundreds of clansmen were none the wiser. The prequel turns that legend into an actual set piece: Brian sneaks in to whisk Ellen away right before she is forced to marry Malcolm Grant. They almost make it clean, but Malcolm catches them in a hallway, refuses to let Ellen go, and it gets ugly fast. The fight ends with Malcolm dead.

• Brian shows up to get Ellen out before her wedding to Malcolm Grant.
• Malcolm finds them in the Leoch corridors and confronts Brian.
• The confrontation turns violent; Malcolm ends up killed by Brian.
• All this arrives after a season built around two couples: 18th century Brian and Ellen, and 20th century married pair Julia and Henry Beauchamp, who do reconnect by the finale (for now).
• And yes, the episode closes on a time-travel cliffhanger to keep you gnawing on your knuckles until season 2.

The cast did a double take too

Harriet Slater, who plays Ellen, says the Malcolm reveal blindsided them when the scripts landed. After 10 episodes of pushing toward this escape and Ellen trying to break an engagement she never wanted, she sees the scene as the only way that story was ever going to end. In the moment, Brian tries to de-escalate more than once, but Malcolm will not back off, fueled by revenge and an uncle who has been pouring poison in his ear. That combination leaves no exit that does not involve a body on the floor.

'It was kill or be killed.'

Jamie Roy (Brian) is bracing for a reaction. Fans know where this all lands long term — Brian and Ellen end up together, have kids, and one of them is Jamie Fraser — but the route there is less predictable. He thinks Malcolm’s death will shock people and probably split the audience because Malcolm has been so likable.

On the 20th century side, Jeremy Irvine and Hermione Corfield, who play Henry and Julia, were also not prepared for Malcolm’s fate. Corfield calls it a pretty shocking swing; Irvine says he was gutted reading it, in part because Jhon Lumsden, who plays Malcolm, is such a good guy to work with. You can feel the real-life fondness grinding up against the on-screen brutality.

So where can you watch it?

Outlander: Blood of My Blood is streaming on MGM+ in the UK. If you are catching up, the first season runs 10 episodes and ends with that door-busting cliffhanger the franchise loves so much.