Lotte Verbeek: ‘Geillis Is On To Something’ In ‘Outlander’

“The Borgias” alum Lotte Verbeek made her “Outlander” debut last weekend, playing the mysterious Geillis Duncan on the Starz series.

The intriguing Geillis surprised Claire Beauchamp Randall (Caitriona Balfe) while the English time traveler was harvesting in a field, and offered her friendship, a warning (people in the village think Claire is a “Sassenach spy”), and a little mystery (she did say people think she’s a witch).

And from that first scene, it’s clear that Geillis is a very interesting woman.

READ: ‘Outlander’: 10 Engrossing Moments From Episode 2

“From the get go, like Geillis knows stuff that Claire doesn’t know and she’s sort of like testing her out and asking her all these questions and being very coy and very mischievous. And Claire — I think Claire’s really happy to have a friend, you know? To meet somebody. Also, a female,” Lotte told AccessHollywood.com. “But yeah, from the get go you feel like Geillis is on to something. There’s something that’s sort of – ‘What’s she up to?'”

While Lotte hadn’t read Diana Gabaldon’s “Outlander” series when she was cast in the role, the actress made sure to pick up the first novel.

“I hadn’t necessarily heard of the books before I became involved playing Geillis Duncan, and so I read about her first, then I read the scripts and then, obviously, I started reading the book as well, simultaneously, kind of,” the actress explained.

“I wanted to focus more on the scripts, but there’s a sort of ‘guiding bible,’ we call it, to the books, where Diana sort of talks you through what actually happens,” she added.

And with “Outlander” author Diana Gabaldon credited as a consultant on the series, Lotte also turned to her for more background sometime into filming the show’s first season.

“I talked to her for sure, like even at dinners and stuff and I always had questions as to why, and what’s behind that, and why does she do that… and she always has like, very interesting information that’s not even in the books that’s just why she wrote it, or what intrigued her about this certain episode,” Lotte said.

“Outlander” airs Saturday nights at 9 PM on Starz.

Jolie Lash

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