Want to see behind-the-scenes filming for Outlander Episode 405, “Savages?” Our blogger was there and has photos from Fraser’s Ridge, the Muellers’s cabin and more.
Yes, who are the savages… that is the burning question after Outlander Season 4 Episode 5, eh? As Jamie said to Governor Tryon in the previous episode, “savagery can exist in many forms.” Very forward thinking man our JAMMF.
In addition to loving that episode overall, from my behind-the-scenes perspective, I was pretty glad to at last see quite a few scenes included where I had either watched the action, visited the scene or had pictures given to me by other fans. I was there the day poor Roger searched for Brianna in Inverness. So sad to see him suffering, but things can only get better, eh? Eventually?
Richard Rankin looking pretty cheerful with dialect coach Carol Ann Crawford
These scenes were shot in the wonderful village of Falkland, in Fife (where Jamie’s ghost famously stares up at Claire in Outlander Season 1 — Jesus H Roosevelt Christ). Falkland stands in for Inverness in all the Outlander series. And if you’re in Scotland, it is a thoroughly beautiful place to visit, complete with its own palace in the middle of the village.
While filming, the crowds were held well back, as usual, but we could see Roger conversing with the taxi driver and talking with Miss Baird. The town was all dressed up again, Outlander-style with lovely shop fronts and 1970s-style cars and extras. As usual, we marveled at the way Jon Gary Steele and his team can change a whole town to another time period with their amazing details.
We saw the Muellers’ cabin on a few different visits to Cumbernauld Glen, which is quite near the Outlander studios and Glasgow. It is a beautiful public woodland park, used quite often in the filming of Outlander. When the tiny cabin started to go up, Jon Gary Steele came on to Twitter and said, no this was not Fraser’s Ridge. Being a devoted book reader myself, I figured it must then be the Muellers’ cabin and, yep, that was it.
The weather was sooooooooo cold on those days of filming… while watching that day, even though we had multiple layers of socks, warm boots and huge coats, the cold just seeped up our legs to our knees. Our feet were well and truly numb when we decided we had had enough! But, of course, the actors and crew must press on; they can’t go home to their central heating when it all gets too much.
That must be a whole other level of coldness, standing in the water for how long? This guy deserves a medal!
The first time we went there, snow had just fallen and it was literally a winter wonderland. Like this.
When filming commenced, we went there bright and early in the morning and a man who was working there let us go into the cabin while some workmen were doing the finishing touches. We couldn’t believe our luck… that was pretty cool! Here are the pics we got inside the Muellers’ cabin that morning.
When Caitriona Balfe came up past the waiting spectators to go for a break, she was hugging a hot water bottle (oh dear!) but still smiling, as usual.
And between takes the Native Americans were also well and truly rugged up.
Even the horses were rugged up while they waited for their cue.
We also saw Urs Echn (Herr Mueller) and David Christopher Roth (his son, Tommy Mueller) going for a break. They were looking pretty pleased with themselves. It must be pretty cool getting to work on Outlander.
The First Nations actors working with Assistant Director Nick Heckstall-Smith
It’s great to at last see inside Jamie and Claire’s lovely cabin. But yes, as my locations travel buddy Morag pointed out – why does that cabin not have a bar on the inside of the door?! How come any old bad guy can just barge in and all Claire can do is stand there with a gun pointed at intruders? Jamie needs to get to work with some finishing touches to his hardcore building! We visited Fraser’s Ridge after the filming had finished, and a couple of folks who went there earlier have shared their pictures with me for you to see.
The fire! There were some pics on Instagram at the time that showed how they did that at their outdoor set/town location – must’ve been quite dramatic. It certainly looked that way as it played out on our screens.
The confrontation between the Muellers and the Cherokee was a heart-breaking vignette of frontier life. And it is so interesting that they have placed Murtagh as a Regulator. I’m looking forward to see how this plays out, not least on a personal level in his relationship with Jamie.
I think I jumped the gun last week and assumed that we would see the Brianna story progress more this week. So, maybe next episode I’ll have the pictures of that mystery person for you. Time will tell.
The locations and sets are magnificent yet again this season.
What do you think about their depiction of life in the back country and the towns of North Carolina?
Thank you to the following for their images used in this post Matthew Fairley, WENN.com, Snaphammy Photography, Steven Thomson of Edinburgh Tour Guides, @d16nag, PapaBob, Morag Wright and Just Jared.
Andrée has been an Outlander fan/addict since December 2015 when she took a friend’s advice to watch this “great show.” Well that was great advice and since then Andrée has travelled from Australia to Scotland twice and spent lots of time checking out the Outlander action. You can follow Andrée on twitter @andree.poppleton and Instagram @AndreePoppleton for more Outlander action.
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