From Yahoo Postmortem:
Warning: This postmortem contains spoilers for the “Prestonpans” episode of Outlander, which aired June 11.
Read more after the jump!
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All wars come with a body count — even fake ones on TV — so it was to be expected that not everyone was going to make it out of Outlander season 2 alive. Possibly a little more shocking was just who fans were forced to say goodbye to in this week’s episode — the fiercely loyal and unapologetic horndog Angus Mhor, and in turn his real-life counterpart actor Stephen Walters.
Although Angus and his ale-bellied bro Rupert appear in the Outlander books, they play much less significant and different roles in McKenzie clan life. In the series, the characters became ride-or-die fighters for Dougal as well as much-needed comic relief. The highlanders managed to heckle their way into our hearts as well as that of author Diana Gabaldon, who called them the “1800s version of Laurel and Hardy.”
As we are sad to see him go, but appreciate what he accomplished while he was here, Yahoo tracked down Walters in Calgary, where he was about to start the next chapter in his career on a new TV show, to talk about his time in Scotland.
How familiar were you with the novels?
I have to plead ignorance. I’d never heard of them so I went into the audition quite blind. But I think it is important to stay a bit green during that process.Given that the character is so different in the series that probably wasn’t an issue.
Yeah, he’s nothing like the character in the books, physically anyway. He really doesn’t feature in the books that much. Angus is more brought out in the adaptation and I’m glad about that. Credit to the casting director in London. I guess she felt I could bring something to the character that might be a wee bit different, yet still embody the character. Once I got the part and read the book and the scripts, I realized the character wasn’t as prominent and it was a nice bonus to find out they wrote so much more in the scripts.Gabaldon said Angus and Rupert were her favorite change that was made in the adaptation process. That’s high praise.
Indeed. We must have done something right. I think she called us the Laurel & Hardy of Outlander.Well, you provided some much needed comic relief in a very intense story.
I’ve said it before and I will ay it again, I never saw the humor initially when I read the first scripts. But I think some of it can be explained by the unspoken chemistry thing. Grant [O’Rourke] and I got on very well and the fans seemed to enjoy our banter.
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Rest in peace, Angus. We loved you.
Pinned onto Outlander the Series.
You were great and made us laugh. You’ll be missed .. that’s for sure.