Latest news with #Outlander:BloodOfMyBlood
Forbes
17 hours ago
- Entertainment
- Forbes
‘Outlander: Blood Of My Blood' Is An Entertaining Prequel With One Big Problem
Outlander: Blood Of My Blood Credit: Starz I tend to view prequels with a healthy dose of skepticism. Every once in a blue moon, one comes along and not only justifies its existence, but blows my mind in the process. Most of the time, prequels are little better than fan-fiction. Better Call Saul somehow managed to be every bit as dramatic and compelling as its parent show, Breaking Bad. The series maintained suspense by introducing a handful of really compelling new characters whose fates remained a mystery. Just as importantly, the show's writers resisted the temptation to make it little more than a vehicle for Breaking Bad callbacks. Better Call Saul brought back characters from Breaking Bad judiciously and with purpose. Jimmy and Mike, in particular, were given a great deal more depth than they ever had in the original series. Another great example of a prequel done right is Andor, Tony Gilroy's exceptional companion series to Rogue One which was itself a prequel to A New Hope. Star Wars has lots of prequels and prequels of prequels. It's less known for profound character studies and brilliant explorations of revolution and political upheaval, but Andor managed to do all that and more in its 24-episode run. Of course, we knew the fate of Cassian Andor, and the Empire and the Rebellion, but the show helped fill in so many gaps, while giving us a darker (and better written) portrayal of a galaxy far, far away, that it quickly became my favorite piece of Star Wars media since the original trilogy. But Better Call Saul and Andor are diamonds in the rough. Far too often, prequels are little more than another way to squeeze more content out of an IP. A prequel faces many hurdles. It's rarely as good as the original but always compared to the original. A prequel often gives us too much information, like explaining how the Force works in Star Wars. It rarely stands on its own two feet as a story, with many of its best gags or moments inextricably tied to work that came before. Unlike a sequel, a prequel isn't tasked with ending a story, but rather with making up some new story altogether which can somehow lead to the one we've already been told. This can make many prequels seem hamfisted or unsurprising. Which brings me to Outlander: Blood Of My Blood. Outlander: Blood Of My Blood Credit: Starz I Wanna Go Back, When You Were Mine Spoilers follow. The new series takes place some years before the events of Outlander, though given that these are stories about time-travelling 'before' and 'after' are rather hazy prepositions. We are introduced to Jamie Fraser's parents, Brian Fraser (Jamie Roy) and Ellen MacKenzie (Harriet Slater) before they become his parents. We are also introduced to Claire Beauchamp's parents, Henry Beauchamp (Jeremy Irvine) and Julia Moriston (Hermione Corfield), though in the timeline of the prequel their daughter has already been born (though we get to see how they meet during WW1 briefly before the main story kicks off). The casting is quite superb. It's so uncannily good that it throws me off at times. Hermione Corfield's Julia looks and sounds and acts so much like Claire (Caitriona Balfe) at times that they could have just as easily cast her to play a younger Claire rather than her mother. It's quite extraordinary. I'm less thrilled by how similar their personalities are. Mothers and daughters are often quite different people, but with Claire and Julia, the apple didn't fall far from the proverbial tree. Claire and Julia Credit: Starz I rolled my eyes a few times at how Strong and Independent Julia happens to be, a generation ahead of Claire, who was already quite uniquely strong-willed and opinionated for her time (and took those views back with zeal to the 17th century where they were even more foreign). To have her mother not only look but act and think almost exactly the same is peculiar. Sure, kids learn from their parents and often hold similar views, but just as often they fight to distinguish themselves from their parents or even rebel against them, even if only intellectually or politically. A more conservative, traditional Julia would have helped make her more distinct and feel less like a clone of Claire. It doesn't help that Jamie's mother, Ellen, is also fiercely independent and progressive for her time. The daughter of a Scottish laird, she was promised by her father that she would never have to marry. And so the two main female protagonists each possess strikingly similar personalities, very out of place for their respective times, that also happen to mirror Claire's personality from the original show. Brian and Jamie Fraser Credit: Starz The fathers, meanwhile, are both handsome, progressive, noble and brave. Again, the casting is exceptional. Jamie Roy looks a lot like a young, dark-haired Jamie Fraser (Sam Heughan). His voice sounds like Heughan's as well. And he is every bit the gentleman, chivalrous and kind and self-sacrificing. He's the one man, it turns out, that might tempt Ellen away from her commitment to spinsterdom. But her family loathes the Frasers and the Frasers loath the MacKenzies, so we have two star-crossed lovers. It's Macbeth meets Romeo and Juliet. In some ways, the fact that Jamie and Claire's parents are all so fierce and good and independent and stubborn makes sense. They passed these qualities down to their children. In other ways, it strikes me that this makes Claire and Jamie much less unique. This is all made much, much worse by the fact that Claire's parents end up time-travelling . . . directly into the same time and place as Jamie's parents during the early days of their forbidden courtship. If you told this story chronologically rather than having this be a prequel, it would seem very strange. You'd have these two couples meet thanks to pretty random time-traveling, and then (I assume, I haven't watched the whole season) fall in love and make some babies, and then somehow they separate and then . . . miraculously . . . their babies, born in different centuries, end up falling in love a generation later. MORE FOR YOU Now, Claire is hardly special at all. Her parents always wanted to visit Scotland and go there on honeymoon there, so her trip there with Frank was just a weird repeat of theirs. Only now, she didn't go to Scotland because of all the wonderful stories they told her but because Frank was researching his genealogy. Recall Claire of the first season. She really knows very little about Scotland. Frank is always teaching her things. Isn't that a little odd given her parents' story? They even went through the same exact stones that Claire travels back through! Meanwhile, we are given a long parade of characters from the main show, only in younger actor's bodies. Murtagh is a dashing young man played by Rory Alexander. Colum MacKenzie is played by young Seamus McLean Ross, who reminds me of a young (and Scottish) Joaquin Phoenix; Sam Retford plays his brother Dougal, with a full head of hair and a full belly of fire. There are even young versions of Ned, Angus and Rupert. The characters face some of the same problems I noticed in Dexter: Original Sin. That was an enjoyable prequel, but the younger versions all started to have the 'high school play' effect. It's not that any of the casting is off. I'm pleased with all the actors. But it's just a lot of 'Oh look, that's young Angus! Oh look, that's young Colum! Oh look . . . ' and so on and so forth. The first two episodes of Blood Of My Blood still get a lot right. I enjoyed the setup, introducing us first to Jamie's parents and secretly to Claire's parents (as a maid in the Fraser household and the bladier of House Grant) before revealing their story in the second episode. You meet both Julia and Henry as characters in the past before realizing later that they came from the 20th century. That's clever, and would have been even better if we were given more time to make this connection on our own, with perhaps a midseason reveal that they came from the future. The costumes and music and cinematography are all great and lovingly crafted, though at times a shot here or there looked weirdly fake. We're not quite at Outlander levels of detail and production value here, but it's close enough for cannonballs. I also love that the show takes place in Scotland rather than the New World. I've had a harder time staying invested in Outlander's main story ever since it left Scotland for the high seas and the Americas. As much as I might gripe that we're treading old ground or hewing a little too close to the characters in the original show, it's still good to be back. I'm not sure what to think of Blood Of My Blood just yet. I remain optimistic despite my worries. I'm not sure this is a prequel that will justify its existence beyond throwing fans a fun new story. Who knows, maybe that'll be enough.
Perth Now
6 days ago
- Entertainment
- Perth Now
Get ready to be spooked by new Aussie drama
Remember scaring yourself stupid at sleepovers as a kid? It was a rite of passage. We started in primary school, telling ghost stories over torchlight under doonas, and things progressed as we got older. By the time we hit high school it was all escaped lunatics from asylums, calls coming FROM INSIDE THE HOUSE — and was there one about a man hiding under some poor kid's bed at night licking her hands? She thought it was her dog. Spoiler alert: it wasn't. By the time the Nineties rolled around, my friends and I had graduated to doing seances, summoning spirits with ouija boards and cups — 'Does Matty P like me? Y-E-S!' — and lifting each other up by our fingertips. What a time to be alive! It all came back to me while watching scenes from the first episode of this great locally produced six-part mystery. White Lotus star Morgana O'Reilly plays Joni. When she was 14, her best friend Gracie Darling disappeared during a seance. Fast forward two decades and the local kids in the town she grew up in are 'Playing Gracie Darling' when another teen girl goes missing in eerily similar circumstances. The story that unravels is dark, moody and instantly gripping, and says some interesting things about memory, trauma and secrets long-buried. It criss-crosses between the present day — Joni, now a child psychologist, has returned to her home town to lend a hand as news breaks of the latest disappearance — and the Nineties, focusing on her and her friends as kids. This has a stacked cast, including Celia Pacquola, Annie Maynard, Rudi Dharmalingam and Dame Harriet Walter, who plays Joni's mum. For those of us who lived through the sleepover years (both literally and metaphorically), there's much fun to be had in revisiting this time . . . from the comfort of our couch. Fit For TV: The Reality Of The Biggest Loser is coming to Netflix. Credit: Supplied What a long way we've come since The Biggest Loser. These days weight loss can be as simple as a little jabby-jab — forget slogging it out on national television! This three-part documentary explores the true story behind the hit weight-loss reality series, The Biggest Loser, which first began in 2004 in the States before making its way to our shores. The American version ran for 18 seasons until 2016, when audiences appear to have twigged to the unique toxicity of watching a bunch of people starve themselves in the quest to win some cash. This series talks to previous participants, trainers, producers and health professionals, looking at 'the good, the bad and the complicated' of it all — you know I'll be tuning in. Gird your loins — Outlander: Blood Of My Blood is coming to Stan. Credit: Sanne Gault / Starz/Sony Pictures Television Love yourself a bit of kilted rumpy-pumpy in the Scottish Highlands? Of course you do. So you'll be tuning in to peep the Outlander prequel series, which takes a squiz at the origin stories of Jamie and Claire's parents. See you on the misty moors! The Voice 2025 kicks off this week on Seven. Credit: Supplied The Voice is back, and there's a heap of new mentors along for the ride. Returning judge Kate Miller-Heidke is joined this time around by Sporty Spice Melanie C, dad crooner Richard Marx and all-round nice guy Ronan Keating. Family-friendly singalong, anyone? Sausage Party: Foodtopia is streaming on Prime Video. Credit: Supplied / Courtesy of Prime Video This eight-part series spin-off takes its origins from the movie that came out a few years ago. It looks super crude and utterly ridiculous. Suffice to say: I am entirely there for it.
Daily Record
07-08-2025
- Entertainment
- Daily Record
Blood of My Blood series 1 screening schedule in full with one week break
The first episode of the Outlander spin off airs tomorrow on Starz. The wait is almost over until the Outlander prequel Blood of My Blood kicks off and fans cannot contain their excitement. Friday, August 8 is the day that the highly anticipated show airs on Starz which follows two new love stories, one which starts on the battlefields of the Western Front during World War I and the other in the meadows of Scotland in the early 18th century. It will unravel the tale of both Jamie and Claire Fraser's parents. Jamie's dad, Brian Fraser, died just mere days after the Highland warrior's second flogging from Randall in Outlander. Although we are yet to get a taste of the spin-off, some critics have shared their glowing reviews ahead of its release. The rest of the prequel follows the romance between Henry Beauchamp (Jeremy Irvine) and Julia Moriston (Hermione Corfield), who are Claire's parents. And now the full screening schedule has been revealed. The first and second episode will air on Saturday, August 9, at 2am and then 3.20am. Episodes will then be episodic until October 4 when it will be a skip week between episodes 109 and 110. The final episode will air on October 11. Back in June, it was announced that Outlander: Blood Of My Blood would be filming a second season, before the first season even aired a single episode. In a statement, Blood of My Blood's showrunner and executive producer Matthew B. Roberts said: "The passion and talent our cast and crew have poured into Outlander: Blood of my Blood has been extraordinary and we're thrilled to continue these epic love stories in season two." "Just as audiences fell in love with Jamie and Claire, we hope viewers will be enamoured by these new couples when they meet them this summer," he continued. And fans will be delighted to know that filming for season two has already kicked off in the exact same location Outlander was filmed over the last decade. Followers were quick to share their excitement in the comments of the official post, with one writing: "What amazing news! I'm already counting down to BOMB's premiere - and Season 2 is already underway?! So exciting!" As another jokingly stated: "Season 1 isn't even out yet but season 2 is already starting. Oh yeah, I've got a good feeling about the trauma to come." While a third voice their congratulations, saying: "OMG!!! I'm not even surprised because we know this show is going to be that GOOD. Congrats to everyone," alongside fire and clapping emojis.
Yahoo
06-08-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Mubi denies it's "shelved" Eddie Huang's Vice Is Broke after he said they "fund genocide"
Film distributor and streaming service Mubi issued a statement tonight denying that it's 'shelved' chef and filmmaker Eddie Huang's new documentary Vice Is Broke, claiming that it's 'in constructive discussions with the filmmaker and producers about the film's release on Mubi, and will share further updates as those conversations progress.' Said statement runs strongly counter to a video Huang posted on social media on Thursday night, claiming that his documentary—tracking Vice's transformation from a scrappy outsider into a soulless media juggernaut—was being mothballed and punished because he'd criticized Mubi's financial ties to Sequoia Capital, which in turn has connections with the Israeli defense industry. In his video, Huang—a well-known chef and former Vice contributor, whose memoir also served as the basis for ABC's Fresh Off The Boat—claimed that Mubi president Jason Ropell called him up on Thursday and told him the film wouldn't be released, and that, in Huang's words, 'You and the producers can buy it back from us if you want, but otherwise, nobody's gonna see the film.' Huang asserted he was being made an 'example' of after calling out Mubi for its ties to Sequoia, and stating that he wouldn't do any promotion for the film. Mubi has denied this characterization of the conversation between Ropell and Huang. Sequoia, a Silicon Valley investment firm, reportedly invested $100 million in Mubi earlier this year, provoking controversy that was directed toward the streamer/distributor. (Per Variety, Sequoia also has links to an Israeli defense tech start-up called Kela, which touts the Israeli military credentials of its founders, and whose website states that it provides 'battle-tested tech for modern warfare.') Several filmmakers posted an open letter earlier this week calling on Mubi to cut ties with Sequoia, with Huang posting a link to coverage of the letter with the comment 'I agree. I did not make Vice Is Broke to help fund genocide.' Mubi has stated that 'the beliefs of individual investors do not reflect the views of Mubi.' [via Variety] More from A.V. Club What's on TV this week—Wednesday season 2 and Outlander: Blood Of My Blood 3 new songs and 3 new albums to check out this weekend Stephen Colbert to play late-night host on CBS's Elsbeth for amusement of cruel gods Solve the daily Crossword
Daily Record
10-07-2025
- Entertainment
- Daily Record
Outlander prequel trailer teases epic love stories that span time
The first trailer for Outlander prequel Blood Of My Blood has been released Outlander: Blood Of My Blood is set to explore the love stories of Jamie and Claire Fraser's parents as the curtain falls on the original romantic drama. The eighth and final instalment of Diana Gabaldon's sweeping romantic period drama Outlander is fast approaching, with fans eagerly awaiting the return of the unforgettable series that has graced our screens for the past 11 years. The grand finale is expected to air either later this year or in early 2026. In the interim, there's a buzz of anticipation surrounding Outlander's much-awaited prequel Blood Of My Blood, which also draws from Gabaldon's literary universe. It was announced in June that the standalone drama will premiere on Saturday, August 9, on MGM+ via Prime Video in the UK, with new episodes being released weekly. The 10-episode series will centre around two intertwining love stories, one set against the backdrop of the First World War battlefields and the other amidst the rugged Highlands of 18th Century Scotland, reports the Scottish Daily Express. The first narrative follows Claire Randall's (portrayed by Caitriona Balfe) parents Julia Moriston (Hermione Corfield) and Henry Beauchamp (Jeremy Irvine), while the second delves into the lives of Jamie Fraser's (Sam Heughan) parents Ellen MacKenzie (Harriet Slater) and Brian Fraser (Jamie Roy). Now, as we approach its release next month, MGM+ has unveiled the official trailer, giving fans a tantalising glimpse of what the prequel has in store. The trailer kicks off with a montage of scenes featuring Claire's parents Julia and Henry, capturing their initial encounter, war-time experiences, and the arrival of their daughter. Julia's voiceover ominously begins with: "I don't know how I got here. Perhaps I've lost my mind. There was a deafening sound -", accompanied by footage of her and Henry's car crash, before she continues: "And you was gone." The scene shifts to Julia awakening beside the mystical Craigh na Dun stone circle, only to discover she has been transported back to the year 1714. The trailer then introduces us to Ellen and Brian, whose instant attraction is palpable from their very first encounter. However, tension arises when Brian reveals his Fraser lineage, prompting Ellen to confess: "My father detested yours". In a subsequent conversation with another woman, Ellen expresses her fear: "If my brothers hear the slightest whisper of a Fraser, they'll kill him", to which she receives the haunting response: "If you don't go to him, it'll haunt you forever." Labelled as a "New Outlander story", the preview teases the forbidden romance between Ellen and Brian, hindered by family feuds, while Julia and Henry are separated by the vast expanse of time and the turmoil of the First World War. The question that lingers is how these romantic tales will unfold as the prequel injects fresh vigour into the beloved Outlander series.
