Disturbing Outlander Scene That Made A Lot of Fans Drop the Show Completely
The Outlander star revealed that even filming the harrowing episode was pure torture.
Based on the novel series by Diana Gabaldon, the Starz show Outlander revolves around war nurse Claire Randall, who travels back in time from 1945 to 1743. This time-travel trope attracted many viewers who started watching the show hoping for a romantic bodice-ripper style with beautiful scenery, flowing hair, fancy dresses, and daring rescues. But Outlander did nothing of the sort.
Instead, the show is filled with some very disturbing scenes of sexual assault. Throughout its 6-season run, the majority of the main characters have experienced severe sexual abuse on screen.
"If Outlander can be credited with anything, it's that it really diversifies its unnecessary rapes," one of the viewers commented.
The show's penchant for sexual violence was no surprise to fans of Diana Gabaldon's books, but it came as a shock to those who came unprepared. And the hard-to-watch factor peaked in the Season 1 finale, which became the episode that drove many viewers away from Outlander.
In the finale, Claire Randall's husband Jamie Fraser is captured, tortured, and severely raped by British Redcoat Captain Jonathan "Black Jack" Randall. Most viewers agree that the scene was too long and unnecessarily graphic.
"I have a pretty strong stomach and this scene disturbs me to this day," one of the viewers wrote. "There's a way to show the realities of rape, and then there's torture exhibition, which this was dangerously close to."
Many viewers shared that the scene was so gut-wrenching that they couldn't get past its beginning. And many of those who did make it through the scene decided to stop watching the show altogether.
"I don't think I can handle watching that sort of content again. The amount of sexual violence in that show is disturbing enough... watching that episode with the truly sadistic sexual, physical, and emotional violence left me shaking," one of the viewers explained.
Sam Heughan, the actor who plays Jamie Fraser, agreed with viewers who criticized the scene, saying that some of the graphic details were completely unnecessary and that even filming the episode was torture.
"It was a harrowing, exhausting experience," he wrote in his memoir.
The actor also revealed that he resisted being fully nude in the scene, stating that it would sexualize his character's terrifying experience. Fortunately, the creators heard him out and the nude shots ended up on the cutting room floor.