The ‘Outlander‘ cast has shared a surprising detail about Black Jack Randall’s Season 3 death. Fans saw the villain die at the Battle of Culloden. But the show once filmed a scene that suggested he was still alive.
The scene never aired, and the cast and crew have now explained why. Tobias Menzies had played Black Jack Randall since the first season in 2014, so the idea of keeping him alive would have changed a major part of the show.
Diana Gabaldon Had The Final Say On Randall’s Fate in ‘Outlander’ Season 3
The show did not make this decision alone. In a conversation with Entertainment Weekly, Sam Heughan and Caitríona Balfe, who played Jamie and Claire, joined showrunner Matthew B. Roberts and executive producer Maril Davis to explain how the team handled major changes from the books.
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Roberts said the team always contacted ‘Outlander‘ author Diana Gabaldon before taking a big turn with the story. “When we know we’re going to do something big, we call [Outlander books] Diana [Gabaldon] and go, ‘hey, we’re gonna go down this path. How do you feel about it?’” Roberts says. “We want to, of course, get her sign-off on it. If she hated something so desperately, we wouldn’t go that way.”
The team, the studio, and the network all wanted to keep Black Jack alive. Roberts said they asked Gabaldon about that plan before making the final call. “We really wanted to keep Black Jack alive, the studio and the network really wanted to keep Black Jack alive, so we call her and asked her,” Roberts says. “She said, ‘I really wish you wouldn’t do that.’ So he died.”
The Battlefield Scene Would Have Changed Everything
In the version fans saw, Black Jack Randall died during the Battle of Culloden. Jamie killed him, and Randall died in his enemy’s arms. The villain’s death gave him a dark ending after everything he had done to Jamie.
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Sam Heughan remembered that the show filmed another scene. “You filmed it,” he says, “I remember, filmed Black Jack’s eyes opening again on the battlefield.”
The unused scene would have shown Randall alive after the battle. It would have turned his death into a shocking twist and opened the door for the character to return later. Since Tobias Menzies had played the role since Season 1, keeping Randall alive would have been a major change for the series.
Davis said the crew had been “hoping” for a different answer from Gabaldon. The team had already filmed the possible twist, and they clearly wanted to see if they could use it. Roberts said the answer stayed the same: “She said no, so he died.”
While the show filmed Black Jack Randall’s eyes opening again, fans never saw that version. The team asked Gabaldon for approval, but she said she wished they would not do it, and ‘Outlander‘ kept Tobias Menzies’ villain dead at Culloden.
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