‘Outlander’ Season 2: Duncan Lacroix Talks ‘Vengeance Is Mine’ Episode

Claire Fraser’s quick thinking during a standoff with the Redcoats provided an opportunity for an “Outlander” character to later make good on a promise.

(Spoiler alert! This story contains details from “Outlander” Season 2, Episode 11 – “Vengeance Is Mine.”)

In Saturday night’s episode of the Starz series (penned by “Outlander” author Diana Gabaldon), Jamie Fraser and his men found themselves surrounded by Redcoats after they stopped at an empty church in a field to allow Claire to tend to an injured Rupert. After Claire posed as a widowed Englishwoman who was being held against her will, a deal was struck and she was traded to the Redcoats (in exchange for the Highlanders going free), and taken to the Duke of Sandringham’s estate for her “safety.

PHOTOS: ‘Outlander’: Scenes From Season 2, Episode 11 — ‘Vengeance Is Mine’

When Jamie and Murtagh arrived to rescue Claire, they learned the Duke arranged the attack on Claire, Mary and Murtagh back in Paris, something the dishonorable noble had his men carry out as a payment for a large debt he owed the Comte St. Germain. Back in France, Murtagh had promised Jamie he would one day lay vengeance at his feet for the incident, and in the “Vengeance is Mine” episode, the fierce Highlander made good on that pledge. He killed the Duke and presented Sandringham’s head to Claire and Mary.

Duncan Lacroix told Access Hollywood about how he got ready to film the scene and shared some details about the sequence just before the Duke’s exit that didn’t make the episode. 

WATCH: ‘Outlander’ Season 2: Duncan Lacroix Talks Murtagh

AccessHollywood.com: Let’s talk about the episode where [Murtagh gets] to kill the Duke of Sandringham and [he] chopped his head off and laid vengeance at the feet of Claire and Mary and Jamie and how fun that moment was for you [as an actor]. Were you excited that he got to do that?
Duncan Lacroix: It was a big thing. I was looking forward to it. It was just, the fact that I’m, you know, chopping Simon Callow’s head off more than anything at the end of the day because he’s one of these actors [I’ve] always greatly admired. But yeah, I just really got in the zone for that — that particular piece. I didn’t talk to anyone. I get the impression that poor Simon walked away from the set thinking I’m actually a psychopath, because… I had lots of N.W.A. hip-hop blaring away in my headphones, wouldn’t talk to anyone and then, just went in there and steamed into it. … I think it’s been cut out, but we did have a bit of Gaelic. Murtagh says a stream of Gaelic to Sandringham before he kills him, which was just kind of a nice launchpad for me as well. 

Access: Oh, because you get to swear at him or something in Gaelic?
Duncan: It was kind of a, ‘My name is Murtagh.’ It was my lineage and ‘now here I am to kill you,’ and it was all in Gaelic, and ’cause it’s such a guttural language, it really kind of like emphasized the scene for me, but it was just a nice launching pad to what you get to see in the episode, I think.

Access: We’ll have to petition them to put that on the Blu-Ray/DVD/Internet extras because I think a lot of people would probably like to see that. There’s been such a fascination I think, from fans with just seeing Gaelic [spoken] on screen. You’ve gotten really into it too, right? It’s just so much fun for you, right?
Duncan: Yeah, I mean, one of my favorite scenes from the first series was … [when] Jamie’s suicidal and the entire scene [between Murtagh and Jamie] was just in Gaelic. It’s just so kind of freeing, really, when you’re acting that way, because it just becomes more about really trying to convey the emotion, knowing that you’re not going to be understood, so you’re not relying on the content of the dialogue, really. And it’s just the sound of it is just so… it’s like an onomatopoeia of emotions. It just sounds like what you’re feeling. It’s hard to describe.

Access: But I think singing is like that too. I can listen to a song in another language, and if someone’s doing it right, I’m going to understand.
Duncan: Absolutely. Yeah, it just becomes universal.

“Outlander” continues Saturday nights at 9 PM ET/PT on Starz. We’ll have more from our interview with Duncan next week.

— Jolie Lash