Here are NEW Stills and Interview with Caitriona Balfe, Diana Gabaldon and Matt Roberts from The New York Times
From NYT:
This interview includes spoilers for the Season 5 finale of “Outlander.”
Five years ago, just before the first major rape scene in “Outlander” aired, a sexual assault in another show, “Game of Thrones,” set off a storm of controversy.
More after the jump!
That brief rape scene, involving the beloved Sansa Stark, triggered outrage because of the way it had been filmed, focused largely on the reaction of a male observer; “Outlander” producers worried that their longer and more explicit rape scene could trigger an even bigger backlash. (“I thought, “Oh God, if this is the reaction to ‘Game of Thrones,’” recalled the executive producer Maril Davis.)
As it turned out, they needn’t have worried. The episode, in which Jamie (Sam Heughan), a male character, is raped at Wentworth Prison, was praised for the way the assault was handled. But over the years, as sexual attacks became common on the show, they became an increasingly difficult sell, especially when they involved Claire (Caitriona Balfe), who suffered several attempted rapes during her journeys to the 18th Century but wasn’t given as much time as other characters to process them.
In the Season 5 finale on Sunday, Claire was victimized once again, this time in a shocking gang rape — an event that was moved forward in the narrative from Book 6 of the best-selling novels by Diana Gabaldon on which the series is based. (The season mostly stuck to Book 5, with a few notable exceptions.)
How will fans react? What did the creative team consider as it wrote and filmed the scene? In a series of phone interviews, Gabaldon, Balfe (who became a producer in Season 5) and Matthew B. Roberts, who co-wrote the episode with his showrunning partner, Toni Graphia, examined the show’s use of sexual violence, its therapeutic value and the criticism. These are edited excerpts from the conversations.
Why do you think rape is such a recurring event, character forge and plot catalyst in “Outlander”?
CAITRIONA BALFE: Sexual assault and rape is so prevalent in society — one out of every six women has been a victim of an attempted or completed rape in the United States. That’s a crazy statistic! We have a problem in our society with sexual assault, and it’s reflected in our storytelling.
Caitriona was excellent in that scene … not only when she was captured and gang raped but also when she was saved by Jamie and safe in her home. Her reaction to the trauma she had lived was very well acted.
She was absolutely brilliant!
Great Interview! Very intelligent and yet so down to earth. A lot of empathy and sensitivity shown by the writer and actors. I was still left numb after watching poor Claire’s horrifying attack.