Filming for Outlander Season 4 is underway and Maria Doyle Kennedy and Ed Speelers join the cast in major roles. Check out all the details below.
I know we’re deep in the throes of Outlander Season 3, especially because PRINTSHOP IS COMING! But this week, Team Outlander actually began production on Season 4 in Scotland. You’ll recall that the fourth season will be based on Diana Gabaldon’s fourth book in her series, Drums of Autumn.
*SPOILERS AHEAD*
Those who have read Voyager and Drums of Autumn know that Jamie, Claire, and Ian eventually end up in the American Colonies and make their way to North Carolina to set up their new lives. Sam Heughan tweeted that he’s already met Rollo (wee Ian’s dog), and it looked like John Bell wasn’t willing to share, LOL. Maril Davis also tweeted this photo from set, so we know that table reads and filming are happening!
And now we also know that new casting for Season 4 is happening too!
Yesterday STARZ announced that Maria Doyle Kennedy will portray Jocasta, Jamie’s strong willed Aunt and Ed Speleers has been cast in the role of Irishman Stephen Bonnet, a pirate and smuggler.
Auntie Jocasta is one of the MacKenzie’s from Leoch, younger sister to Ellen, Colum, and Dougal. Shortly after Culloden, Jocasta and her (third) husband escape to North Carolina and are able to establish a very profitable plantation. When Jamie and Claire arrive in North Carolina, Jocasta is active in helping her nephew settle in. It also shouldn’t surprise you that, like her siblings, Auntie Jocasta can be a schemer to…
Maria Doyle Kennedy will be great in the role (though a little younger that I anticipated). I adore Kennedy as Queen Catherine in The Tudors and Mrs. S in Orphan Black. She’ll definitely bring the charisma to Auntie Jocasta.
Then there’s Stephen Bonnet, a character I so vehemently despise. I believe we actually first meet him when Claire and Jamie arrive in the Caribbean and the end of Voyager, but perhaps that won’t be the case in the TV series. In any event, Stephen Bonnet is a vile, monstrous life ruiner. I was hoping that we’d skip his storyline, particularly as it relates to Brianna, but, I guess not. In any event, I enjoyed Ed Speelers as Jimmy on Downton Abbey, so we’ll see whether or not Bonnet is as horrific in the show as he is in the books. Ugh.
What do you think of the casting news? Check out more about Kennedy and Speelers below and share your thoughts with us in comments!
Maria Doyle Kennedy is an acclaimed singer and actor. She has spent the past five years traveling the world with her family preparing songs for the new album, gigging constantly and filming the TV show “Orphan Black.” Other recent acting credits also include “Downton Abbey,” The Conjuring 2 and Sing Street. Maria’s album “Sing” was released in 2012 and featured duets with Damien Rice, Paul Brady and John Prine. Ireland’s leading music magazine Hot Press described Sing as “Maria’s Masterpiece.” Maria has recently collaborated with Feist & Jarvis Cocker on a video for the song “Century” from Feist’s new album. Maria writes and performs with husband Kieran Kennedy and along with the new album, they have also completed their first short film A Different Kind of Day, written and directed by Maria, produced and scored by Kieran.
Ed Speleers is a British actor who has crafted a career across both film and television over the past ten years. He was recently seen in the acclaimed adaptation of “Wolf Hall,” the award-winning “Downton Abbey” and ITV primetime drama “Beowulf.” His most recent credits include roles in Andy Serkis’ Breathe with Claire Foy, plus Andrew Garfield and Lars Von Trier’s The House that Jack Built. In 2016, Ed was seen in Disney’s Through the Looking-Glass directed by Tim Burton. His breakout role was playing the lead in Eragon. He was selected by director Stefen Fangmeier after a worldwide casting search and selected to play the lead role. Other film credits include A Lonely Place to Die, Howl, Plastic and Love Bite.
