Jenny Fraser (Laura Donnelly) in ‘Outlander’ (Sony Pictures Television/Starz)
Now that Claire has made her choice to stay in 1743, it’s time to head to Lallybroch in “Outlander,” and that means finally getting to know Jenny Fraser, played by actress Laura Donnelly.
Jenny was seen briefly in flashback moments, which aired earlier in Season 1, Part 1, of the Starz series, but in Saturday’s episode, named after the Frasers’ ancestral home, viewers will really get to know Jamie’s (Sam Heughan) older sister on screen.
“She’s very fun to play and I think that it’s because she is a real fighter,” Laura told Access Hollywood.
WATCH: Laura Donnelly On Jamie & Jenny In ‘Outlander’
Laura said she loved the feistiness of Jenny, and being able to play a character with flaws.
“I always look to play flawed characters. I’m not very interested in playing somebody that’s just, you know, the very nice one or the attractive one, or whatever, which a lot of female parts can just be written that way. And with Jenny, she fights very hard for what she believes in and for what she loves and sometimes she goes about it the wrong way and other times, she doesn’t and she’s very, very right,” Laura said. “And I like that those things come from the same place, which is just a sense that she really knows herself and that she is very headstrong. … It’s fun to play somebody that just goes kind of hell-for-leather for one direction, whether she’s right or wrong, and she’ll later find out which of those it is.”
PHOTOS: ‘Outlander’: Scenes From Episode 112, ‘Lallybroch’
Jenny has been running Lallybroch for some time when the story brings Jamie and his new wife Claire (Caitriona Balfe) to the Fraser home.
As readers of Diana Gabaldon’s books know, Jenny is a force to be reckoned with, something that will be seen in Saturday’s episode. But does Laura have anything in common with the unforgettable 18th century Scot she portrays in the drama?
“I’d like to think that I have some of her courage in fighting for what she really believes in and what she really loves, but I don’t think — I maybe don’t have the same level of bravery or the same level of being headstrong as she does, so I don’t tend to get myself into as much trouble,” Laura said.
Recently, Laura wrapped up a run opposite Hugh Jackman in “The River” on Broadway. Although she originated playing “The Other Woman” (her character’s name) on the London stage with Dominic West (Showtime’s “The Affair”), Laura had to show her mettle to get the part in the New York City version.
“It was a nerve-wracking process. I had originally done the play in London, playing the same role and then, when it was going to transfer to Broadway and there was going to be a new cast, then, I had to re-audition because Hugh, and rightly so, had casting approval, so I had to go in and audition for him, but playing a part that was very close to my heart. And so it felt in many ways like the stakes were so much higher because not only did I want this really incredible job, being on Broadway and getting to share a stage with Hugh, but I also really didn’t want to lose a character that had been so close to me and that I had created first time around,” Laura said. “I didn’t want to lose that to somebody else. That would’ve been really heartbreaking. So yeah, I was certainly nervous going in to audition for him, but he so quickly put me at my ease that it wasn’t much of a problem.”
WATCH: ‘Outlander’: Sam Heughan & Caitriona Balfe On ‘The Devil’s Mark’
Having worked with Hugh Jackman and Sam Heughan (Laura actually went to drama school with her “Outlander” co-star), Access had to ask if Laura noticed any similarities between the two men.
“Well, apart from them both being staggeringly handsome, obviously, they are both incredibly nice guys and they are both incredibly hard working,” Laura said. “And the dedication that they put into their jobs respectively, is something to be really admired, and the attitude that they bring – Hugh, to a rehearsal room, and Sam to a set — of being generally just really lovely to everybody and treating absolutely everybody the same, regardless of their rank and power. And I think that as leading men, that’s a really important trait to have and they definitely both have it in spades.”
“Outlander” continues Saturday at 9 PM ET/PT on Starz.
— Jolie Lash
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