Outlander’s Maria Doyle Kennedy had a crushing epiphany during her first time shooting with Jamie Fraser star Sam Heughan.
Actress Maria has portrayed Jamie’s Aunt Jocasta since the fourth season of the hit Starz drama.
She’s expected to reprise her role in the upcoming second half of season seven but recently admitted to finding one particular aspect about the character quite challenging.
When asked how much she identifies with Jocasta, she explained: “Well, the most difficult thing about her, of course, is that she’s blind.
“I had to rethink the way that I move, my physicality and how my body works.”
Although she would have extensively researched how to realistically act blind, some aspects of her performance didn’t become apparent until she actually got on set.
One particularly distinct memory was her first scene with Sam as Jocasta’s nephew Jamie during her first appearances back in the fourth season.
“Even though I thought about that before I started the work it wasn’t until the very, very first day of filming,” she recalled during an interview with Grand 101.1 FM.
“I did my very first scene with Sam and I suddenly realised I was not going to make eye contact with anybody for the whole season.”
Although Maria has been surrounded by talented stars throughout her stint on Outlander, she was unable to fulfill a key aspect of most performances due to the limitations of the character.
“I was overwhelmed with a feeling of loneliness,” she admitted. “Because it’s just something I hadn’t really processed before.
“We give so many cues with our eyes, we tell each other so much without words by looking and by receiving messages from people’s eyes. Their intention and their emotion.
“It was quite a thing to absorb and to learn how to deal with that and how to relate to people in a more physical kind of way.”
Despite the hurdles, Maria has remained a cherished member of the main Outlander cast ever since her debut back in 2018.
The next episodes of the sweeping historical drama will be airing in November after fans have been waiting nearly a year for the next chapter of Claire (played by Caitriona Balfe) and Jamie’s story.
Plus, the Outlander universe will be growing even bigger soon with the release of a new prequel series, Blood of My Blood, releasing next year.
Outlander season 7, part 2 premieres Friday, November 22 on Starz.