Outlander just cast two key roles for season 3: Ian Murray, the son of the Ian Murray we have already met, and Joe Abernathy, a colleague of Claire’s in the 20th century.
Outlander is currently, busily filming in Scotland for season 3. This past spring, fans received the exciting news that the series was greenlit for both seasons 3 and 4. Season 3 will encompass the novel Voyager, and focus upon Claire eventually reuniting with Jamie, and their continued adventures in the 18th century.
Eighteen-year-old relative newcomer John Bell will be playing the role of Young Ian Murray, who is, “a tall, gangly Scottish lad with a heart of gold, a stubborn streak and a penchant for getting into trouble. Bursting with charm, he’s more like his adventurous, fierce uncle Jamie Fraser than his farmer father Ian — but when we meet him, he is still a very gawky boy. However, he keeps trying to prove that he is a man and we will see him grow into quite a formidable one as the series evolves.”
Bell is not exactly a household name in the U.S., but viewers may remember him from The Hobbit movies where he played Bain, and from the critically-acclaimed History Channel series the Hatfields & McCoys. No doubt that, at 18, he’s grown up a bit since the scene from The Hobbit pictured below.
Veteran actor Will Johnson will be portraying Joe Abernathy, who “is a fellow doctor-in-training whom Claire befriends in medical school. Intelligent, charismatic, with a wry and irreverent sense of humor, Joe is a loyal confidant with great affection for Claire. He puts on a good face, but he is all too aware of his place in the Civil Rights era. Joe and Claire both feel out of place in the mostly all-white, all-male medical field, which bonds them together in a life-long friendship.”
Johnson has been in countless U.K. theatrical and television productions. Though many of these programs are not widely shown on American TV, Netflix and Amazon Video fans may remember him from series like Cracker and Waking the Dead.
This casting news comes on the heels of a previous, major casting announcement. It was announced back in August that Oscar Kennedy would be playing the older Lord John Grey.
According to Starz, “The third season of Outlander picks up right after Claire travels through the stones to return to her life in 1948. Now pregnant, she struggles with the fallout of her sudden reappearance and its effect on her marriage to her first husband, Frank. Meanwhile, in the 18th century, Jamie suffers from the aftermath of his doomed last stand at the historic battle of Culloden, as well as the loss of Claire. As the years pass, Jamie and Claire attempt to make a life apart from one another, each haunted by the memory of their lost love. The budding possibility that Claire can return to Jamie in the past breathes new hope into Claire’s heart…as well as new doubt. Separated by continents and centuries, Claire and Jamie must find their way back to each other. As always, adversity, mystery and adventure await them on the path to reunion. And the question remains: When they find each other, will they be the same people who parted at the standing stones, all those years ago?”
No official date has yet been set, but it is anticipated that Outlander will return in Spring 2017 on Starz.