Sam Heughan Compares His Sexy New 'The Couple Next Door' Character to Jamie Fraser in 'Outlander' (Exclusive)

Sam Heughan segues from playing 18th century hot Scot Jamie Frasier to 21st century traffic cop Danny in STARZ’s new six-episode limited series The Couple Next Door. And while the two characters are centuries apart, executive producer Jo McGrath has said that Jamie and Danny are both flawed heroes who are stubborn but capable of change, so she felt Heughan was the right man for the job.

Heughan, though, when asked, doesn’t initially agree. He tells Parade, “I think they are quite different people, the reason why I chose it. I think Jamie Fraser’s, obviously, multi-faceted and multi-dimensional and he definitely has stubbornness, that’s for sure.”

And then Heughan realizes that maybe McGrath is on to something.

“I’m talking around myself because actually maybe she’s right,” he continues. “At the heart of it, Danny is a good guy, but completely different to Jamie in terms of the way he makes decisions. They’re men not of the law, or Jamie’s not, but he is a rule maker. Danny is someone who’s a rule breaker but should be upholding the law. It was really fun to play someone quite different to Jamie."

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One of the main themes of The Couple Next Door is desire. Becka’s desire for excitement, Evie’s desire for a child, and Danny’s desire for enough money to pay for all his secrets leads the couples to cross moral boundaries but also makes for a very sensual show.

As a result, Outlander’s intimacy coordinator Vanessa Coffey was brought on to help with all the sex scenes at Heughan’s recommendation.

“I, obviously, knew that this show relied heavily on relationships,” Heughan says. “I knew that Vanessa would help us explore that. And for our Belgian crew [they filmed in the Netherlands], it was new territory. They have not much experience in that world. I think it was important for us all to feel comfortable and also to help discover what it meant for these characters and how do you have a four-way relationship.”

One of the rules that Becka and Danny had was that they wouldn’t swing with friends, especially with neighbors. But when Evie got wind of her neighbor’s lifestyle, she was intrigued. It didn’t hurt that she had been having fantasies about Danny.

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“We were very careful,” Heughan says. “We really wanted to show that this is a choice for some people. I think it’s a really hard one. You have to be so honest and open and really discuss and really trust your partner. I think Danny just can’t quite come to terms with it. He needs rules. I think Becka is the one who’s a lot more open and a lot freer."

And not unlike Outlander, Danny and Becka are really in love. Maybe not with the same passion as Jamie and Claire (Caitríona Balfe) but a love that also works because of their shared communications.

"Theirs is the main romance of the whole piece," Heughan says. "Danny loves Becka and she loves him. We see them really going head-to-head and trying to work through things. Their communication is quite high when Danny does speak about things. So, hopefully, it all works out and, hopefully, they are together."

New episodes of The Couple Next Door will premiere at midnight ET on the STARZ app, all STARZ streaming and on-demand platforms each Friday. On linear broadcast, it will debut on STARZ tonight at 9 p.m. ET in the U.S.

Related: Everything We Know So Far About 'Outlander's 8th and Final Season