Outlander: Blood of My Blood cast detail ‘pressure’ ahead of series premiere

The stars of Outlander’s prequel series Outlander: Blood of My Blood have opened up about how daunting they found it joining the Starz historical series, which recently unveiled its opening credits and confirmed a long-held theory.

Speaking in a recent interview, actress Hermione Corfield reflected on signing up as Julia Moriston, the mother of Outlander’s feisty heroine Claire Fraser (played by Caitríona Balfe).

“There’s always a pressure when something has such a huge fan base and a whole world,” the 31-year-old English actress said.

However, despite her trepidation, the star of We Hunt Together and Mission Impossible: Rogue Nation, admitted she was also “excited” at the prospect of being such a big and well-loved franchise like Outlander.

She went on to promise fans that Blood of My Blood would “only expand” on the Outlander universe and “deepen the story and the legacy”.

While Jeremy Irvine, who plays her onscreen husband and Claire’s father Henry Beauchamp, said it was a privilege to be part of such a juggernaut.

War Horse actor Irvine, 35, told Cosmopolitan he felt “lucky” to be part of Outlander, which people already had “strong feelings” about.

Their words come ahead of Outlander: Blood of My Blood’s global premiere next month when fans will finally get to see the next chapter in the Outlander franchise.

The upcoming prequel series is set years before the events of Outlander, some of which have been referenced previously in the parent show.

Outlander: Blood of My Blood will follow the epic love stories between Henry and Julia and separately Jamie Fraser’s (Sam Heughan) parents Brian Fraser (Jamie Roy) and Ellen MacKenzie (Harriet Slater).

Unlike the original series, Outlander: Blood of My Blood won’t follow any books and gives the show’s producers a degree of creative freedom with the drama series, allowing the writers to fill in the blanks of Claire’s parents’ backstory.

Starz has confirmed both Henry and Julia are time travellers and through a tragic car crash will be thrown headlong into the past.

The trailer for the forthcoming drama series shows Henry and Julia separated from each other in the past as they desperately try to reunite.

Teasing their big storyline, Corfield admitted that if Henry and Julia had simply had their WWI romance, it wouldn’t have been a “huge journey” for them.

The time travel element, which she said had parallels to Claire’s Outlander journey, added a rich layer to Henry and Julia’s story arc.

Starz has also shared a video on Instagram, putting Claire and Julia’s respective journey through the stones side by side to highlight the parallels between Blood of My Blood and Outlander.

The video was cheekily captioned: “The rumors are true: Claire got more than her looks from Julia. #BloodOfMyBlood #Outlander.”

Although Outlander: Blood of My Blood has yet to come out, Starz has already greenlit season two with production already starting on the new series, so fans have plenty from the Outlander universe to look forward to, including the eighth and final season of the original show.

Outlander season 7 is streaming on MGM+ via Prime Video now

Outlander: Blood of My Blood premieres on Starz on August 8 and on Prime Video via MGM+ on August 9