Here’s a new interview of Lotte Verbeek with WSJ
After the jump due spoilers
Verbeek, who, in addition to “Outlander,” is probably best known for her supporting roles in “The Fault in Our Stars” and “The Borgias,” graciously sat down with Speakeasy recently to chat about her character’s pivotal episode. Below is an edited transcript of our conversation:
There’s a lot of talk about how Geillis is such a polarizing character, but to me she just seems like such a ball to play. How much fun is this role?
It is a lot of fun to play, especially because she doesn’t give away everything all at once. And it’s not a one-dimensional thing. There’s a lot of different colors to her. And I think she always keeps you wanting more. She always plays on something and kind of teases, and then pulls back, and then disappears again. And I guess that’s what really got me at first, just the playfulness. And then obviously there’s a lot of intrigue and a lot of mystery and a lot of stuff to be revealed. It’s not like you know her agenda from the get-go.
Geillis is very sneaky, but aside from the whole husband-killing thing, I don’t get why Geillis seems to be this character that everyone “loves to hate.” If anything, Laoghaire is the more unlikable character.
I know, and that’s what I love about characters where, even if you don’t understand them, you believe them. Or even when they have done a certain thing that you wouldn’t necessarily approve of, there are other things they do that makes you understand it. Like, you get drawn into her reasoning and her motives.
First you see her kill her husband, so that could be off-putting in some way [laughs]. But ultimately, you get to see why she does what she does. And in fact, what’s so interesting too is that Claire seems to be very altruistic, she’s a healer – she seems selfless that way. But when Geillis asks her, “What are you doing here? How did you end up here?” And Claire says, “Well, it just happened.” Geillis is stunned, she’s like, “So there’s no bigger plan? You’re just here?” She just can’t believe it, because Geillis, all her life, is about the [Jacobite] cause. The greater good. And that’s very idealist. And then, on top of that, she’s sacrificed her own life to save Claire! And that’s very altruistic. So you get a completely different sense of a character that at first seems so mischievous and so coy and so in control and so hard to grasp. But you actually – hopefully – get to feel for her and get her humanity and her vulnerability as well. She’s in love with [Dougal] – she truly, deeply loves him.
So we find out at the end of “The Devil’s Mark” that Geillis came from the year 1968. Given her knowledge of herbs, love of Mother Nature and tendency to dance naked, do you think she might just be a lost hippie?
[Laughs] Yeah, there’s a bit of hippie in there. It’s interesting, because her idealism, obviously resonates from the Sixties. And now in hindsight, you’ll get all the breadcrumbs that she’s left behind, and you get to add up all the details and it starts to really make sense.
Read the rest of the interview here
Spoiler
We love to hate her because we know what happens down the line. Not the current form
However you play her part beautifully and I look forward to future looks at your acting her part
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