[Editor’s note: The following contains major spoilers for Episode 5 of Outlander: Blood of My Blood.]

Summary

In the Starz series ‘Outlander: Blood of My Blood,’ Ellen MacKenzie has been promised to another, but chooses to be with Brian Fraser.

After being named as Beltane’s May Queen, Ellen sneaks off to an abandoned chapel with Brian and they share a fairytale moment.

Jamie Roy and Harriet Slater’s instant chemistry fueled authentic intimacy amid laughs, wardrobe mishaps, and a beetle while on the dreamy set.

In episode five of the Starz series Outlander: Blood of My Blood, entitled “Needfire,” Ellen MacKenzie (Harriet Slater) attends Beltane, a festival to celebrate the coming of summer and where she’s meant to be spending time with her betrothed, Malcolm Grant (Jhon Lumsden). During the festivities, Ellen does what’s expected of her, dancing her way to the title of May Queen and then selecting Malcolm as her May King. But with Brian Fraser (Jamie Roy) there, the two are able to sneak away to an abandoned church where they become handfast and share a beautifully intimate moment with each other. Only, reality quickly catches up with them as Brian is left having to watch Malcolm kiss Ellen as the needfire blazes. During this interview with Collider, co-stars Slater and Roy discussed how hard it is for Ellen to live a life of her choosing, the frustration of being underestimated, their easy chemistry, the most memorable moments of Beltane, the mishaps that can happen when you’re trying to shoot a romantic moment, and that “Ruin me” line.
In ‘Outlander: Blood of My Blood,’ Ellen MacKenzie Just Wants to Live a Life of Her Choosing

“Ellen finds her power and her freedom in the fact that she chooses Brian for herself.”

Harriet Slater as Ellen MacKenzie standing outside on a hill in Outlander: Blood of My Blood
Image via Starz

Collider: Harriet, for Ellen, all of this starts with her brothers thinking they can just use her as a pawn and leverage for being available as a wife. What is it like to even wrap your head around that being possible? How do you feel about that is a thing that people could even do in this time period? How do you feel about that for Ellen? HARRIET SLATER: Oh, my gosh, it was really, really hard, actually. It’s so frustrating. It’s such a frustrating position to be in, especially coming from the place that she was in, which was quite a powerful one. When her father was alive, she was almost his right-hand man, in a way. He listened to her. He valued her opinion. She was instrumental in forming other marriages with him. He protected her from ever having to marry herself. And then, once he’s gone, she’s very vulnerable and exposed, and her brothers use that to their own advantage. They immediately go about setting her up with whoever they feel would be most beneficial for them. It must have been horrendous for your life to not be your own and to not really be able to make any choices for yourself. I think Ellen finds her power and her freedom in the fact that she chooses Brian for herself. He pretty much is the only decision that she’s ever made. It really is quite brilliant that she comes up with the whole co-lairdship idea. At the same time, is it difficult for her to not get the credit she deserves because she never gets any credit for anything? SLATER: Thank you so much. Yes, it is. That was all her idea, and yet she doesn’t get the credit. If anything, Ned gets the credit. She can’t even pitch that idea to her brothers herself because they wouldn’t listen to her, so she has to go through Ned. She brings Ned to her room and is like, “Look, I’ve got this idea, but you need to pitch it to them because they’ll listen to you.” I don’t think her brothers are ever really fully aware of how instrumental she is in their lives and or quite how clever she is. She is the puppeteer, and they have no clue. They underestimate her, massively. Jamie, I read that you were cast as Brian before Harriet was actually cast as Ellen, so you had some chemistry reads with different actresses. You said that there was something special about the reading you guys had together. What makes it feel different and special in the moment? ROY: When I met Harriet for the first time, we had a conversation and she slipped me a couple hundred pounds before the audition. I said, “I’ve got you. Don’t worry. I’ll turn it on for you.” That was pretty much it. SLATER: Not my secret! ROY: Sorry, it had to come out sometime. What is chemistry? When you meet someone, you either get along with someone or you don’t. You vibe or you don’t. That’s honestly it. It’s just this unspoken thing, when you can just be completely vulnerable with someone from the get-go. She’s a fantastic actress to work with, so it just makes it easy. SLATER: So is he. It worked both ways. ROY: I’m a fantastic actress? SLATER: Yeah, you’re a fantastic actress. And he actually gave me five hundred pounds. No. Obviously, not really.
Harriet Slater and Jamie Roy Recall Their Favorite Moments of ‘Outlander: Blood of My Blood’ Episode 5

“That was such a fun episode to shoot.”

There’s so much that goes on in episode five, between Ellen and Brian, Ellen and Malcolm, with Jocasta, with Murtagh. So much happens in that episode. What are the memories for each of you guys that really stand out the most, in shooting that episode? SLATER: That was such a fun episode to shoot, episode five. JAMIE ROY: There are two [moments], one is really nice and one is just funny. The one that’s really nice was the chapel scene. That was beautiful. The words that Brian says to Ellen in those moments are so beautifully poetic. The writing is just stunning. That was really lovely to shoot. The one that’s funny is when Ellen is picking the King of Beltane. We had a fit of the giggles that day and we just couldn’t stop laughing during that scene. As she’s coming down, you see the camera as her eyes and she’s looking at all these potential May Kings. We’re not actually looking at her because if we made eye contact, we would just burst out laughing. SLATER: They were just staring at my nose. ROY: I was just looking at the ground the entire time, or up or something. Rory, who plays Murtagh, was next to me, and he just makes everybody laugh. He just gets this twinkle in his eye. That was such a funny day, just trying to keep it together and not ruin a take. If you look really carefully, you might see little shoulders slightly bumping up and down and shrugging, from multiple people. That was a really nice memory from episode five. SLATER: It was a really pivotal episode for her, and for Ellen and Brian as a couple. That scene that Jamie mentioned in the chapel felt like a very important scene whilst we were filming it, and also the conversation that follows. That chapel set is one of my favorite sets that I’ve ever played on. My jaw dropped when I saw it for the first time because it looked like it was straight out of a fairytale. It’s hard to believe that it isn’t a real rundown chapel. It’s a set that was built and filled with real foliage. All the moss and the flowers and the twigs and the bugs are real. At one point, Jamie literally pulled a beetle out of my hair, and I left with a thousand twigs hidden in my hair and my clothes. Also, the costume that I got to wear as the May Queen really stuck out to me is one of my favorites. It was amazing. It was this amazing dress that I only got to wear for that one episode. I always think it’s such a shame, the hours and hours of work that go into these fantastic costumes and you only get to wear them one time. But it gets immortalized on screen, so I’ll have that forever. What are the biggest challenges of just trying to pull off a scene like the one in the chapel? We watch it and it’s this incredibly passionate and romantic moment, but there are layers of clothing, you have to get on the ground gracefully, and there’s dialogue before and after. Were there any moments that just were not as sexy as they were supposed to be? SLATER: Oh, I’m sure. ROY: What are you talking about? We did it all in one take. It took 20 minutes to film. SLATER: Yeah, what he said. No. I have to say, the getting down to the ground gracefully was nothing on my part. That was entirely [Jamie]. Thanks for that. ROY: I remember what was hard was the unbuttoning of some things and the drawstrings of the corset. We’d have an amazing take and it would be really passionate… SLATER: And the strings were knotted again. ROY: You’d be like, “Strings, please? Can someone get the strings? Thank you.” SLATER: The lift took a few practices because of the material. There was so much material in those skirts. It’s not just one skirt, it’s three skirts, so that took a bit of practice. Luckily, we did have practice. We rehearsed the whole thing, over a couple of days.
Harriet Slater Says That “Ruin Me” Line Was Perfect for ‘Outlander: Blood of My Blood’

“I knew how important a line it was going to be.”

Harriet Slater as Ellen and Jamie Roy as Brian touching foreheads and hands in Outlander: Blood of My Blood
Image via Starz

Harriet, what was it like to have to get that “Ruin me” line absolutely perfect? It’s not something that you would say today. SLATER: No. ROY: You don’t say it on a daily basis? SLATER: You could say it today, but I think it would mean something slightly different. Yeah, it’s very specific to a very specific time period. SLATER: Yeah. I honestly was nervous for that line because when I first read it, it really made me laugh. I think it’s a perfect line. ROY: It took you a minute to buy into it, didn’t it? SLATER: I was just worried because I knew how important a line it was going to be. And also, I was very aware of the modern connotations behind it, and I didn’t want it to be funny at all. It doesn’t come across that way, thankfully. What she means is, “Yes, my reputation will be ruined, not being a virgin.” Being an unmarried non-virgin was scandalous, back in the day. But what she’s saying is, “I don’t care. I love you,” essentially. Although they don’t say it then, I think they both feel it. She’s saying, “I really don’t care. I only want to be yours. I don’t want to be perfect for anyone else. So, ruin me.”

Outlander: Blood of My Blood

Release Date

August 8, 2025

Showrunner

Matthew B. Roberts

Directors

Jamie Payne

Franchise(s)

Outlander

Harriet Slater

Ellen MacKenzie

Hermione Corfield

Julia Moriston

Outlander: Blood of My Blood airs on Starz. Check out the trailer: