David Berry talks Lord John Grey’s Outlander return, potential spinoff show

Outlander did the best thing it possibly could during the most recent episode, “Give Me Liberty,” by bringing back Lord John Grey (David Berry). At the end of Season 5, Berry posted what sounded like a “final goodbye” to the series on his social media, but he wasn’t fooling us! We knew Lord John Grey couldn’t stay away from Jamie Fraser (Sam Heughan) for too long.

Lord John Grey’s return to Outlander comes at a tumultuous time for the Frasers as the American Revolutionary War approaches and Jamie’s loyalties are shifting. Seeing his friend take up with the revolutionaries isn’t an easy pill for Lord John Grey to swallow, but time and time again he’s been by Jamie’s side, whether or not he likes it.

I mean, he did adopt Jamie’s illegitimate son, William, and raise him as his own. When it comes to Jamie, Lord John Grey will go to the ends of the Earth. He’ll even trick the Crown into ambushing a Sons of Liberty meeting later than expected so Jamie can do what he needs to do. We already knew Lord John Grey is a Loyalist, but he’s also loyal to his dear Jamie.

Berry spoke to Entertainment Weekly about his character’s return and what it means to Lord John Grey to see Jamie’s loyalties change as the war approaches.

The friendship between Jamie Fraser and Lord John Grey has been “tarnished”

Berry confirmed that, if he has to choose between Jamie and his loyalty to the crown, Lord John is probably going to choose Jamie. “He does point out that Jamie asking him to delay the soldier’s raid on this meeting is a big ask, intimating that he might not be able to do it. But is there any part of him that seriously would not try to do that once Jamie asked?”

No matter what, since the day Lord John Grey has met Jamie, he has been willing to do anything for him. Even when Jamie is literally breaking his heart by switching sides, Lord John Grey is willing to put his own life in danger for the man he loves but can never have. It’s a beautiful yet tragic thing.

However, this is the first time we don’t see Lord John Grey give in 100%. He did assert himself and set some boundaries for Jamie to operate within. “In those words, the subtext is not about the soldiers. You’ve hurt me is basically the subtext,” Berry said. “You’re asking a lot of me again. I’ll do it for you. But this is almost too much. I’m telling you here that you better not ask any more of me because I’m not willing to give it. This is him sort of asserting his boundary at that point. And he acquiescences to a degree, but he doesn’t give Jamie a full concession. He says, ‘I’ll delay them.’ He doesn’t say, ‘I’ll call them off.’ And he won’t because, on a personal level, he’s hurt by Jamie. It’s like, you’ve betrayed our friendship. I’m going to save you this time, but I’m not [going to go that far]. He’s trying to be as equivocal as possible.”

"But he follows it up with, “Be careful.” He just can’t help himself. He’s so hurt in that moment that he’s like, “Okay, you’re asking a lot of me, I’ll delay them.” And he’s saying, “Well, here’s this guy, he doesn’t care about his own welfare or my friendship to him,” but because he loves him, Lord John can’t help himself and says, “Jamie, be careful.” There’s a lot of partings and goodbyes in every Jamie and John scene. That’s something that I put a lot of effort into concentrating on, because the subtext every time Lord John says goodbye is he wants to say, “Goodbye, and I love you.” But of course he can’t say that,” shared Berry. “And that’s always the parting message that Lord John wants to give Jamie, no matter what the circumstances are surrounding that goodbye."

Sigh, find us a friend like Lord John Grey, please.

Of course, this could be a huge turning point for this friendship, because no matter how much Lord John Grey loves Jamie, he has essentially reached his limit. “He’s hurt. A line has been crossed; the friendship has been tarnished,” Barry said. “They’re going to need to resolve this in some way. Jamie’s going to have to do something. But Lord John is coming to understand that the more he helps this person, the more he hurts himself.”

It’s going to be a tricky road to navigate from here on out, especially because Jamie’s behavior is dictated by what he’s been told by Claire (Caitriona Balfe) and Brianna (Sophie Skelton). He can’t share why he’s been so eager to change sides, but history has already played out a certain way and Jamie wants to take advantage of that. But will it come at the cost of his friendship with Lord John Grey? It just might, but I’m really hoping not.

Will there be an Outlander spinoff about Lord John Grey?

When asked about a possible spinoff, Berry responded with a very straightforward response: “No comment.”

I mean, we all know what that means, right? It means there could be something in the works at that very moment but the person isn’t allowed to talk about it. Sit tight, Outlander fans, I have a feeling we may be getting the update we’ve all been waiting for.

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