“Outlander” ended its five-season run earlier this year, closing the book on the time-traveling romance between WWII-era combat nurse Claire Randall (Caitríona Balfe) and 18th-century Scottish warrior Jamie Frasier (Sam Heughan).
While an ongoing prequel spinoff — “Outlander: Blood of My Blood” — explores the romantic lives of Claire and Jamie’s respective parents, a recent announcement revealed a new project for one of the original series’ stars.
Caitriona Balfe Starring in ‘Ascension’
Emma McIntyre/Getty ImagesDeadline is reporting that Balfe has signed on for the leading role in “Ascension,” an upcoming television series for Apple TV.
Inspired by the novel “Last Days” by Adam Nevill, Deadline describes the series as a “one-hour psychological horror thriller” that “explores evil and innocence at the highest level, while asking how far we’ll go — and what we’ll sacrifice — to protect the ones we love, even when the greatest threat to them may be ourselves.”
Balfe will play Rose, “a relentless documentary filmmaker and recently divorced mother, brilliant at uncovering others’ truths but struggling to resolve her own. When Rose begins a project on a mysterious 20th-century cult known as the Church of Ascension, she finds unexpected refuge in its teachings — until she discovers something far more insidious beneath.”
An Oscar Winner At the Helm
The series is being produced by Alfonso Cuarón — whose 2018 Netflix film “Roma” won three Oscars, including Best Director — while Natalie Erika James and Christian White will serve as showrunners.
In addition to starring, Balfe will also be an executive producer on the project.
She’s Also a Director
During the eighth and final season of “Outlander,” Balfe got the oppotunity to step behind the camera make her directorial debut; whether she winds up directing on “Ascension” remains to be seen.
Directing that “Outlander” episode, however, led to an unusual scenario when she wound up directing her own love scene.
“I was like, ‘And their clothes stay on,'” she said with a laugh when interviewed by Vogue.
“I was fortunate, I had Barbara Stepansky, the writer and supervising producer of the episode, to talk about the scenes with and say, ‘Okay, what exactly do you want from the scene?’ What’s the visual language that I want? I know what Sam and I bring to it. Then we worked with [intimacy coordinator] Vanessa Coffey, who has worked with us for the last couple of seasons. She brings so much to those scenes, helping us craft them. It’s collaborative. That’s the loveliest thing about it,” she added.
A Lasting Friendship
StarzDuring that Vogue interview, both Balfe and Heughan opened up about the tight bond they’d formed as co-stars.
“Our friendship is one of the things I’m the proudest of from the whole show,” she shared.
“It’s true. We’re both competitive people, but we’re not competitive with each other. And we’ve always made sure to talk to each other,” she added.
Heughan concurred. “We were in the show for over a decade,” he added. “Whether it was on or off set, we both went through stuff in our personal lives. Caitríona would instantly know if there was something going on. In those moments, she was there for me and would protect me in some ways, way more than she needed to …”
