Roy is portraying Heughan’s character’s father in prequel series ‘Outlander: Blood of my Blood.‘

Jamie Roy was almost cast on Outlander but producers couldn’t get over his resemblance to Sam Heughan

Roy is portraying Heughan's character's father in prequel series 'Outlander: Blood of my Blood.'

By Maureen Lee Lenker

Maureen Lee Lenker

Maureen Lee Lenker is a senior writer at ** with over seven years of experience in the entertainment industry. An award-winning journalist, she's written for Turner Classic Movies, *Ms. Magazine*, *The Hollywood Reporter*, and more. She's worked at EW for six years covering film, TV, theater, music, and books. The author of EW's quarterly romance review column, "Hot Stuff," Maureen holds Master's degrees from both the University of Southern California and the University of Oxford. Her debut novel, *It Happened One Fight*, is now available. Follow her for all things related to classic Hollywood, musicals, the romance genre, and Bruce Springsteen.

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Published on July 25, 2025 09:22PM EDT

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Sam Heughan and Jamie Roy. Credit:

Aimee Spinks/STARZ; Sanne Gault/STARZ

- Jamie Roy originally auditioned for a role on flagship series *Outlander.*

- However, the production team decided to hold off because they couldn't get past his resemblance to Sam Heughan.

- That paid off, leading to Roy being cast as Heughan's character's father, Brian Fraser, in prequel series *Outlander: Blood of my Blood.*

Jamie Roy and Sam Heughan aren't related in real life, but the resemblance between the two *Outlander *stars is striking.

So much so that it turns out Roy originally auditioned for the flagship series, only for producers to decide they needed to save him for *Blood of my Blood,* on which Roy now portrays Brian Fraser, the father of Heughan's Jamie.

History repeated itself in the casting process with the team finding Roy first, just as they had with Heughan over a decade ago. "We had actually started to cast him for a role in *Outlander,*" revealed showrunner Maril Davis on a *Blood of my Blood *panel at Comic-Con. "All the writers and I were like, 'Wow, he looks a lot like Sam. That's so weird. Maybe we should hold him for the prequel.'"

Sam Heughan as Jamie Fraser in 'Outlander'.

Aimee Spinks/STARZ

There was only one problem — *Blood of my Blood *had yet to be greenlit by the network. "We were like, 'Who knows what's gonna happen? Maybe we'll cast him,'" Davis recalled. "Then, I was talking to Karen Bailey [the senior vice president of original programming at Starz], and she was like, 'God, he looks a lot like Sam. Should we save him for the prequel?' So, here we are."

Roy did, however, have the opportunity to meet Heughan and chat with his on-screen son to get a sense of him up close and personal. They met for a coffee, which Roy said swiftly turned into multiple whiskeys.

Watch EW's exclusive San Diego Comic-Con 2025 livestream

'Outlander' star Graham McTavish crashes prequel's Comic-Con panel, teases actor playing younger Dougal

But apart from that natural resemblance, Roy wasn't looking to recreate any of Heughan's performance. "[Showrunner Matthew B. Roberts] didn't want a carbon copy of Jamie," Roy said during the panel. "Because, obviously, he's the combination of his two parents. We really wanted Brian to be his own man, which was great because it freed me from any expectations or pressures. I could find Brian naturally."

"The casting team have done such a wonderful job," he continued. "We all do share characteristics with the people who played the older versions of ourselves. I didn't really study Sam's performance as much, but I've been told we're quite similar in personalities. Our characters are both quite brave, romantic, and very handsome." The last bit he said with a wink.

Jamie Roy as Brian Fraser in 'Outlander: Blood of my Blood'.

Sanne Gault/STARZ

Roy isn't the only member of the *Blood of my Blood *cast who almost booked a gig on *Outlander *first. Hermione Corfield, who portrays Claire's mother Julia Moriston, originally auditioned to play Brianna, Jamie and Claire's daughter, a role which ultimately went to Sophie Skelton. "I was 21 , 22," Corfield tells *. *"I was going to screen test for Brianna, and then it ended up clashing with another job, so I couldn't do it."**

It speaks to how much Corfield also resembles and embodies characteristics that belong to Balfe, if she was being considered for the role of Claire's daughter at first.

Davis said that quality is consistent across the board with the prequel cast. "Everyone here has something about them that embodies the original character," she reflected. "They've just stepped in and made it their own."

*Outlander: Blood of my Blood *airs its first two episodes on Aug. 8 on Starz.

**Check out more of EW’s coverage from San Diego Comic-Con 2025.****

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