More Season 2 casting news!
1) Scottish actor Clive Russell will play Jamie's grandfather, Simon Fraser, Lord Lovat, aka the "Old Fox". Some of you may remember Russell from GAME OF THRONES, where he played Brynden 'Blackfish' Tully.
Here's the famous Hogarth engraving of Lord Lovat in 1747, just prior to his execution, just for comparison purposes. (Click on the photo for a bigger view.)
2) Sixteen-year-old Oscar Kennedy will play the young Lord John Grey.
I'm really glad that they didn't cast an older actor and attempt to age him "down" to 16.
The character's name is listed as "William Grey" on the Episode 209 IMDB page, which is consistent with the way he's referred to in DRAGONFLY IN AMBER. But this is definitely the young Lord John! If you find this confusing, it may help if you think of "William Grey" as an alias of sorts, as Diana Gabaldon explained in a post on Compuserve from 2009:
Lord John did _not_ announce that he was Lord John Grey--but rather hastily gave his middle name, as simple "William Grey", presumably to keep this barbarian Highlander from realizing that he'd snared a member of the aristocracy, who might be held to ransom or otherwise be of (unpleasant) interest.
Having said that, it's true that Diana changed the character's name when she wrote VOYAGER:
He was originally called William; however, I very much wanted to name Jamie's son Willie, and--with Jamie's older brother having the same name--I thought that would be too many Williams in a small space, so I changed Lord William to Lord John, as unobtrusively as I could.
(From THE OUTLANDISH COMPANION by Diana Gabaldon, p. 399. Copyright© 1999 by Diana Gabaldon. All rights reserved.)
I have complete faith in the casting people. I'm sure Oscar Kennedy will do fine, and if and when we get to Season 3 <crossing fingers>, they'll find just the right person to play the older Lord John.
(Please note: we still have no information on Brianna or Roger's casting. I promise I'll post here as soon as I hear anything.)
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