Sam Heughan loved going contemporary for “The Couple Next Door”: 'A T-shirt and jeans is a lot more comfortable than the traditional kilt'

Fans of Outlander should prepare to see Sam Heughan in a completely new light.

Heughan, alongside an ensemble cast that also features Jessica De Gouw, Eleanor Tomlinson, and Alfred Enoch, leads new Starz drama The Couple Next Door. If you're expecting a man the like the loyal, extremely monogamous, and moral-to-a-fault Jamie Fraser, well... don't.

Instead, Heughan is playing Danny, a contemporary police officer who, with his wife Becka (De Gouw), leads a bit of an unconventional life via their open relationship. You'd never guess it from their outward suburban propriety, but when a new couple, Evie (Tomlinson) and Pete (Enoch), move in next door, their secrets start to spill out.

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Or, as Enoch teases it, "You just want to know — 'What bad decisions are these people making now and where will they end up?' It had an atmosphere in the script, that slightly strange, psychosexual, thriller feeling of malaise. Just that sense that it looks good, but it feels off."

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For Heughan, the show, which premieres on Starz at 9 p.m. ET/PT on Jan. 17, is also a welcome shift from his beloved Jamie Fraser. "It was just a joy to do something completely different," he tells Entertainment Weekly. "It was less time in the makeup chair — and throwing on a t-shirt and jeans is a lot more comfortable than the traditional kilt or jerkin that I normally wear. They each have their merits of course, and it is fun to do historical, but this was definitely a welcome change."

But it's not just the wardrobe that marks a stark change, it's who Danny is as a man as well; he conceals nefarious dealings, money issues, and more from his wife. "Danny, on the surface, is one thing," Heughan teases. "People will make assumptions about him. His new neighbors make assumptions about him. But I love a character that is ambiguous, and I love being surprised. I want an audience to think one thing of a character and then learn that there's something else."

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Heughan and De Gouw also dug into their characters' approach to sex, as Danny and Becka swap partners and invite other couples into their bed.

"A lot of my friends are in the queer community," De Gouw explains of her exposure to polyamory. "Traditional, monogamous relationships are not necessarily the norm. In my life, I'm surrounded by different kinds of relationships. The expectation that you are two people living monogamously forever doesn't necessarily exist in the queer community in the same way. So I feel like I had a bit of insight into that."

Heughan notes that the non-traditional relationship also required even more specificity and homework between him and De Gouw when it came to building their on-screen romance. "We had to work out what that relationship is and to try and do justice and service to anyone that does have that kind of relationship," he says. "Because it's ultimately harder to be that open and that in love with your partner that you will test your comfort levels. It is, ultimately, the romance of the piece."

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Both De Gouw and Tomlinson also felt it essential to ensure their characters were driving the choices they were making in regards to their bodies and intimacy. "I felt a responsibility, particularly from Becka's perspective," De Gouw adds, "that we're telling a story of someone who chooses this life, who is empowered by this life and who has thrived in this life. We meet [Becka and Danny] at a point of crisis, but it's a different lifestyle that absolutely works and is valid."

Adds Tomlinson: "Jessica and I really wanted to give the women some agency so that they pitched it to the boys. That really helped, and it gave them a bond that wasn't necessarily on the page, which was exciting for us, and important for the women in the show to have that fun between them and then to be the ones that make that decision or suggest that decision."

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Heughan also found a fascinating paradox in the fact that Becka and Danny live in a neighborhood that represents the antithesis of their values. "It's interesting that they've chosen to live in a very different world to what they're privately living," he reflects. "They're in this quite formulaic society, this rule-driven world in suburbia. That's also a key to Danny a little bit — that's his upbringing and that's the world that he feels more comfortable in."

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It's that tension between their baser desires and the rigid structure of their suburban world that propels The Couple Next Door forward. "It's so toxic," says Enoch. "But there is something delicious about it."

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