Smashing a mirror was only the start of a destructive rampage for William (Charles Vandervaart) after discovering that Jamie (Sam Heughan) was his real father on Outlander.
“This is probably William at his absolute worst. He’s having a full-blown crash out in this episode,” Vandervaart told us in Inside Outlander, our weekly aftershow. (Watch the video above for the full interview.)
William’s fury drove him to “a tornado,” as Vandervaart calls it, of reprehensible behavior. One target was Ian (John Bell). Not only was William furious that Ian had kept it a secret that the two were cousins, but he was also jealous that Ian was engaged to Rachel (Izzy Meikle-Small). A fight followed, and William had Ian arrested. In response, Rachel slapped William across the face. When you incite a Quaker woman to violence, you know you’re pushing the limits.
Vandervaart also had an intense scene with Heughan. The two actors have been working together to create subtle links between the characters. “We had a lot of discussions about maybe small mannerisms that William would carry that would be reminiscent of Jamie’s mannerisms. We decided William picked them up when he was a child and they were interacting a lot. We had a lot of discussions about the two characters and how similar they are.”
One of those shared traits is that no matter how much they boil over, they always come back to their code of honor. William returned somewhat to his gentlemanly self in his second meeting with sex worker Arabella (Silvia Presente), whose real name turned out to be Jane. But the night he intended to spend chastely by her side turned passionate. “In his mind, him allowing himself to enjoy that moment and not resist that kind of temptation is a loss of his honor. I don’t think he wanted to be with Arabella. I think he wanted to be with Jane, which is an important distinction. It’s something that he would’ve liked to experience with Rachel, his first love interest in the show. But this time around, he does feel a connection. It’s two people that are fighting for an idea of what they want in their lives, and not in very good circumstances.”
The pair’s lives will remain intertwined. “There’s going to be a bond that resonates and that continues—whether or not that’s something more romantic or just them sticking around by each other’s side. I do feel like William now has a duty to protect Jane just because of their bond,” Vandervaart says.
Sounds pretty Jamie-like! “As much as he wants to run away from Jamie, he’s very Jamie,” Vandervaart says. “[Even though] Jamie represents everything that he never wanted to be. He represents this Scottish, non-lordly person that’s a traitor to the crown.”
And, like Jamie, Vandervaart teases, William will soon be back in the good fight. “Eventually there is some action. Whether or not it’s battlefield action, we’ll have to see. He’s a man of action.” Watch the video above for the full interview to hear more from Vandervaart on William’s emotional scene with Claire (Caitriona Balfe), working with the Outlander intimacy coordinator, and if William will ever be ready to reconcile with Jamie and Lord John.
Outlander, Season 7, Fridays, 8/7c, Starz (Midnight on the Starz App and On Demand)
