Malva actor weighs in on shocking Outlander twist

Things are getting messy over on Outlander, where Jamie and Claire Fraser have taken in the fundamentalist Christie family, much to their regret of late. The most troublesome member has proven to be the teenaged daughter Malva, played by Jessica Reynolds. In the most recent episode, Malva revealed that she pregnant and accused Jaime of being the father, even though that seemed very unlikely. And that was just the beginning…

Speaking to Variety, Jessica Reynolds revealed that she auditioned for the role with the accusation scene, although at the time they were trying to keep it under wraps that it was for Outlander. “We spent a long day doing that scene and it was like a six-pager, which is pretty long for TV. It was brilliant. I have so much to say in it as well. There’s a lot of text for me. It almost felt like theater that day, because it was such a long thing and so many dynamics.”

"There’s Sam and Cat and Mark [Lewis Jones] and Alex [Vlahos] bouncing off each other. It was great doing it. When I watched it, you could see Malva obviously doing the plan that was laid out for her, this calculative thing, and she kind of cries and she gets upset. There’s also this parallel you kind of see that she’s well — that I saw anyway — that she’s so sorry that she has to do it. Like in the tears, she’s sorry that she’s doing this to Claire, but she has to. And it was really tough to film at the start, because she’s going in devastated and there’s that mix of manipulation, but also fear. There’s so much going on. So it was tough. But then to be honest, by the end of the day, we were all in cahoots laughing and I was like, I can’t do this scene anymore."

Malva is painted as a pretty unsympathetic character, but clearly, Reynolds has found a way to emphasize with her, which is necessary if she’s going to play her. “Malva has a lot of sides to her, and ultimately I think she is a victim,” Reynolds said. “I think Claire sees Malva as a victim as well when things were revealed. Also, it’s trauma after trauma for Claire, right? She’s processing the rape of last season, and then Malva distracts her. She’s got a lot of things to look forward to. And now it’s another blow. How much trauma can one take on?”

As for that other “blow”…well, things got crazy at the end of the episode.

Who killed Malva on Outlander?

At the end of the most recent episode, Claire saw Malva approaching her house. Not wanting to deal with her, Claire took a huge hit of ether — she’s been going through some things this season — and put herself into a deep sleep full of unquiet dreams. When she woke up, Malva was dead in the garden, her throat slit.

Obviously, Reynolds isn’t going to give away who killed her, but she hinted that there are explanations coming for her behavior, like accusing Jaime of impregnating her. “We will find out more,” Reynolds told Entertainment Weekly. “And I don’t want to give away too much. But there’s reason behind the madness.”

Perhaps the man who killed Malva was the actual father of her baby? Again, Reynolds isn’t saying anything specific, but there’s definitely more to come. “There’s so much going on behind the surface and as to why Malva does become promiscuous and does meet with a lot of men, there’s a very specific reason for it all.”

There aren’t many episodes of Outlander season 6 left, so we’ll learn more soon enough. In the meantime, Reynolds thought back on what she liked most about her Outlander experience:

"It’s the fans — and obviously, production was incredible. And having a character like this, I feel I was so blessed and lucky to play someone so interesting. I don’t think that comes up often. Outlander is great at these complex, paradoxical, intense women. It’s such an honor to do that, especially in a period piece. But secondary to that, the fans have just been so cool and so passionate. I understand that feeling of being a part of something and that escapism you can get from television that you really love. I love seeing them kind of hit at Malva and then kind of feel sorry for her. It’s great to see them digest and interpret my work."

New episodes of Outlander air on Sundays on Starz.

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