Yahoo Lifestyle Caitríona Balfe on the final season of 'Outlander'
If I was talking to Caitríona Balfe in the early noughties, the focus of our conversation would have taken on a completely different flavour. This was Balfe’s heyday as one of the most sought-after models of her generation. After being scouted, aged 18, while collecting money for charity at her local shopping centre in her native Ireland, she almost immediately became a mainstay of fashion month, opening and closing shows for high-fashion juggernauts including Chanel, Givenchy, Moschino and Louis Vuitton.
But mention Caitríona Balfe now and most will immediately reference one thing: Outlander.
The Starz show, based on the series of books by Diana Gabaldaon has become a cult series, beloved by fans worldwide. It follows the journey of Balfe’s Claire Randall, a former WW2 nurse in post-war Scotland, who finds herself thrust back in time to the highlands of the 18th century. The hugely popular show is currently broadcasting the second part of its penultimate season and the cast has just wrapped shooting the very final series. It will mark the conclusion of more than a decade of Balfe’s professional life as an actress.
“It’s been such a strange year,” Balfe admits, calling me from London, where she lives with her husband, the band manager Tony McGill, and their young son. “Knowing that it was coming to an end, we all definitely felt heightened emotions at various times throughout the process. Finishing up was so emotional.” After the show’s final days, both Balfe and her co-star Sam Heughan embarked on solo, somewhat spiritual, adventures. “I went away and did a yoga and meditating retreat and Sam's about to go on a trek in the Himalayas,” she says. “I think we're all finding something to put our energy into. That's a very long-winded way of saying, 'I think I'm OK!'”
The role of Claire Beauchamp Randall Frasier is, one might say, the role of a lifetime – or several in fact. Balfe’s decade-plus relationship with Claire has been an actor’s gift, allowing her to traverse time periods and cross the genres of period drama, action, war and fantasy epics. The emotional arc alone has stretched Balfe’s artistic muscles such that she has been laden with plaudits, including Golden Globe and Bafta nominations, throughout the show’s run.
“My relationship with Claire has completely evolved over the years,” she says. “In the beginning, you were filling in all of these blank spaces of her history and her memories and then, as the years went on, you're living it, you're creating them in real time. And so, in a way, you know, without sounding weird, she lives within you. I think more than anything what I realised is, for me, personally, what an amazing teacher Claire has been.”
Indeed, before taking on the role in 2013, Balfe might perhaps have been known as that loaded phrase ‘model-turned-actress’ – with largely just an uncredited role in The Devil Wears Prada and a small part in Spielberg’s Super 8 – to her name. Yet Balfe’s talent in Outlander is unavoidable, right from her earliest appearances. “Oh my resumé was so short and sweet before Outlander,” she says, laughing. “But the great thing about this genre is that it can be so many different things, and it has been so many different things. So as an actor I've been brought to a really incredible depth of emotion.”
And there is much, Balfe says, that Claire taught her on a personal level. “She taught me how to be responsible, taught me how to use my voice, how to stand up for myself and for other people, about compassion and empathy,” she says, pausing – already sounding slightly nostalgic. “I hope I brought some of those qualities into it, anyway.”
If Outlander was the perfect advertisement for Balfe’s considerable talent, it was the 2021 film Belfast that gave her recognition on an unprecedented level. She received a Bafta and Golden Globe nomination for her role as Ma in Kenneth Brannagh’s critically acclaimed film. It served as a reminder that, really, Balfe’s acting is only getting better and bolder. Between breaks in Outlander, she took roles in the films Ford v Ferrari, Money Monster and The Cut and next spring will see her opposite Rami Malek in The Amateur.
She has avowed to take a break following her decade of Scottish time travel, but after having directed an episode of the show, this may prove another new direction for the multi-talented Balfe. “I was asking our producers for a little bit if I could, and in season seven, I got the opportunity to do some second unit stuff,” she recalls. “That was amazing as a first foray into it. When I got to do a whole episode, it was just so much fun, so I would love to do more.”
“I am going to try and have an actual break though,” she says, sighing. “And then I have a project I'm trying to write myself…” She won’t be drawn on more, so I ask what legacy she thinks her landmark series will have left. “Honestly,” she says, “I think the thing I'm the proudest of is that after 11 years, we're all really great friends, and we all have such a love for each other. There are just so many amazing moments I will cherish.”
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