Sam Heughan & Charles Vandervaart on Facing an ‘Overwhelming’ Revolution

[This interview was conducted prior to the SAG-AFTRA strike authorization.]

Outlander‘s seventh season paves the way for America’s Revolutionary War, and on either side of the fight are Jamie Fraser (Sam Heughan) and his son William (Charles Vandervaart).

The gravity of this situation has yet to be fully unveiled as Jamie and Claire (Caitriona Balfe) flee Fort Ticonderoga at the end of Episode 5, “Singapore,” just as William bids the Hunters farewell to take up arms with the red coats. The brewing battle isn’t entirely new to the Frasers, though.

As viewers have seen over the years, the couple, comprised of a World War II combat nurse-turned-doctor and an 18th-century Highlander warrior, have gone through the Battle of Culloden together and, more recently, the Battle of Alamance, where they lost Jamie’s godfather, Murtaugh (Duncan Lacroix).

(Credit: Starz)

Now, Jamie could be approaching a battlefront manned by his biological son William who still doesn’t know about his true parentage. “He’s been through many wars. He’s faced history,” Heughan says of Jamie in the series so far. “[He] and Claire tried to change history, but this time it’s completely unstoppable.”

Instead of fighting against what’s to come, they’re working with the winning side, but that doesn’t mean the duo is safe from harm or potential heartbreak. “They are in the eye of the storm. It’s the biggest hurricane they’ve ever met. The War of Independence,” Heughan tells us. “They’re trying to maneuver themselves strategically between different sides.”

The task continues to be challenged as the pair retreat from the fortress they’d been stationed at, but only time will tell how. “They’re trying to protect their family, the people that they care for, most of the people that Jamie is responsible for. It’s overwhelming,” Heughan admits.

Meanwhile, Vandervaart remarks on William’s ideals as a soldier on the other side of things, saying he has “some strong morals and ideas that were instilled in him in England, and that’s definitely hard to shake.” His duty to the Crown is apparent as he continues on his path to rejoin the red coats, “He feels very patriotic and ready to fight. That might be a bit misguided cause he’s quite naive. He’s never seen those realities before. So we’ll see what happens.”

As for his recent tumble in the swamps of North Carolina and scuffle on the road with threatening strangers, Vandervaart warns, “You’ll feel worse for him later on. It doesn’t get better.” Stay tuned to see what the Frasers get up to as the war rages on in Outlander‘s ongoing season.

Outlander, Season 7, Fridays, 8/7c, Starz