‘Outlander’ Rape Storyline: Showrunner Ron Moore Talks Horrific Rape Scenes

Outlander boss Ron Moore is speaking out about the horrifying rape depicted in the show’s season one finale, “To Ransom a Man’s Soul.”

Outlander Rape Storyline In Finale

Starz aired Outlander’s first season finale on Saturday, May 30, and while fans of the books might have been prepared for what went down, others were shocked. Claire (Caitriona Balfe) saved Jamie (Sam Heughan) from Wentworth Prison, only to find him physically and mentally defeated. In flashbacks, it was revealed that Jamie had been brutally and repeatedly raped and tortured by Black Jack Randall (Tobias Menzies) – all of which was depicted in graphic detail during the finale.

The violent storyline comes directly from the book series by Diana Gabaldon upon which Outlander is based, and, in post-finale interviews, it was revealed that Moore and the writers always knew the rape would be depicted on the small screen.

“Right from the beginning, we all knew this was the end of the book, so there was going to be some pretty dark stuff out there waiting at the end. So when we were doing the initial breakdown of the 16 episodes, we started looking for opportunities to set that up…and all the way through the season, we were sort of always aware of where we were going, laying things along the route to sort of give you fair warning and also correctly build the arc so it paid off in the right way,” Moore told E! News.

Outlander’s finale may have been controversial, but the show’s treatment of rape has been well received by critics. Many are specifically pleased with Moore’s decision to explore the psychological repercussions of rape, as opposed to exploiting the violence for entertainment – a critique many have leveled at Outlander’s HBO counter-part, Game of Thrones. Game of Thrones has come under fire recently for the Sansa rape storyline that was not featured in the original books, and has thus far failed to truly depict Sansa’s reaction to her trauma.

“When Outlander subjects its lame lead to graphic, horrific rape, it’s not simply to shock anyone (we all saw this coming), or titillate the audience (there’s nothing sexy about this – regardless of your feelings about Tobias Menzies’ and/or Sam Heughan’s faces), it’s done to honor just how truly horrific and life-changing this even was for Jamie. It showed the true nature and evil of Randall. The show’s creator, Ron Moore, has said as much in interviews: we will see more of how this has affected him. Jamie will not just go back to being the Jamie he was before, because there is a heck of a lot of mental machinations that are now going to come into play. PTSD is real,” wrote Nerdist’s Alicia Lutes.

Meanwhile, EW‘s Jeff Jensen wrote that “Jamie’s rape was well handled,” but added that he hopes to see more improvement going forward. “I’d be remiss if I didn’t note the most obvious way in which ‘To Ransom a Man’s Soul’ differs from the usual TV rape story: The victim was a man, not a woman. It could very well be that the quality of this hour owes something to the rarity of this kind of story. Television should endeavor to give this kind of imagination and care to stories about female victims of rape, too; it’s shameful that it doesn’t happen more often,” Jensen added.

Moore, the Outlander showrunner, revealed that the writers and actors took extra care to make sure the rape scene felt earned and honest. “We just approached it professionally and I said, ‘We’re going to try to tell this story as truthfully as we can. This is a story of these two men, and let’s just play it. Let’s not flinch from what it is, but let’s not glorify it at the same time.’ You have to watch it as you’re creating it in those terms. For me internally, as I was cutting the show, if there was a point where I couldn’t watch it anymore, then I know we had gone too far….I always pull back from that line. But on the other side, I always try not to shy away from that and cheat it and make it so that it’s prettier than it should be. You’re trying to find this perfect balance between those two thoughts,” Moore said.