Sam Heughan Says He Felt ‘Betrayed’ By ‘Outlander’ Team For Showing Full Frontal Nudity In Male Rape Scene

Actor Sam Heughan said Outlander’s creative team “betrayed (his) trust” with their decision to include full-frontal nudity in a rape scene.

In his memoir Waypoints: My Scottish Journey, Heughan revealed that he had a disagreement with the STARZ team about the scene. Although he contractually agreed to nudity on-screen, the actor felt it was “unnecessary” to show his genitals in this particular scene.

“I pushed back,” Heughan wrote, “reasoning that nudity sexualized a horrific experience for my character, and it sparked quite a debate.”

The scene aired during the first season of the series. It depicts Heughan, who plays Jamie Fraser, a Highland warrior, being sexually assaulted by sadistic antagonist Black Jack Randall, played by Tobias Menzies. 

Heughan said the nudity wouldn’t “add to the horror of what Jamie undergoes in that castle dungeon.”

He recalls coming to an agreement with the creative team so the full nudity was only depicted in the aftermath of the rape scene.

“Creative conversations are a feature of all productions,” Heughan wrote. “We all want to get it right.”

Despite the compromise, Heughan told Insider that he “didn’t feel that supported.”

Now in its sixth season, Outlander has an intimacy coordinator to deal with scenes like this.

Heughan told the Happy Sad Confused podcast that he wants to “explore these scenes and actually maybe get something more out of them,” while stressing the importance of protecting the actors involved.

Heughan’s memoir details his trek across the Scottish Highlands as he reflects on his life and career as a television star.