How Sam Heughan and Caitriona Balfe’s friendship has helped Outlander

Outlander has been running for seven seasons now, held down first and foremost by the relationship between the two leads: Jamie Fraser (Sam Heughan) and Claire Fraser (Caitriona Balfe). Over the years, Jamie and Claire have endured wars, separations, and more than a few kidnappings, but they’ve come out the other side stronger than ever.

Claire and Jamie work together as well as they do because Heughan and Balfe work well together. That chemistry has been there since the beginning. “Obviously everyone knows we cast Sam first and we had a very hard time finding our Claire,” producer Maris Davis said at The Women of Outlander ATX TV Panel, according to Express. “But I remember talking to [producer] Ron [D. Moore] in our offices in Scotland and saying if this pairing – if we don’t hit this one out the park we might as well not make the show because it’s so important and when we saw Caitríona’s tapes we were like, ‘Ding, ding, ding, ding, we’ve seen so many.’”

"But I think when we saw them together in Los Angeles, I remember it like it was yesterday, the chemistry was there and they’ve always – and they can speak to this more than I can – but that friendship and that chemistry has always been so evident and they just work so well together and you see it on the screen and you see it in real life and that relationship."

Sam Heughan and Caitriona Balfe have “never had a falling out”

In addition to having chemistry onscreen, Heughan and Balfe quickly forged a friendship in real life. “We’ve always hoped that they would stay that way and that they would continue that friendship and it has and it’s grown,” Davis said. “I have so much respect for them that they have been able to have this friendship but […] they’re the only two that have been in that position and they’ve remained really strong and I think that that has helped guide our show in terms of – there hasn’t been a falling out between the two of them, they’ve maintained they know how important that is.”

Balfe, who was also on the panel, repeated Davis’ line about she and Heughan having “never had a falling out,” which is a little curious to me. Like, were people expecting them to have a falling out? Possibly, because Balfe did say that “We’ve definitely irked each other.”

Still, obviously it was never bad enough to cause problems. Balfe said that she and Heughan have “similar personalities” and a strong work ethic, but they’re also mindful to “not take ourselves too seriously.”

"The star concluded: “But as our lives have gotten more complicated and busy, we may not see each other as much as we used to but that core and that friendship and that base that we have has never changed."

Outlander is due to return for the second half of its seventh season sometime next year, but we’re not sure when yet.

To stay up to date on everything fantasy, science fiction, and WiC, follow our all-encompassing Facebook page and sign up for our exclusive newsletter.

Get HBO, Starz, Showtime and MORE for FREE with a no-risk, 7-day free trial of Amazon Channels