Outlander star Sam Heughan felt ‘betrayed’ by idea of penis shot in rape scene

Heughan believes the scene ‘would have been handled differently’ if it had been filmed today

Sam Heughan revealed that he felt “betrayed” by the Outlander creative team after a shot of his penis was initially included in a rape scene from the first season.

Heughan portrays Jamie Fraser, an 18th-century Highland warrior, in the Starz series, which has run for six seasons since 2014.

In one brutal scene, Jamie is seen being sexually assaulted by his nemesis Black Jack Randall (Tobias Menzies).

In his new memoir, Waypoints: My Scottish Journey, Heughan recalled filming the “harrowing” sequence.

“A clause in my contract required me to film nude scenes,” he wrote. “Even so, this wasn’t a moment where I felt that being naked would add to the horror of what Jamie undergoes in that castle dungeon as a form of punishment, subjugation and humiliation.

“I pushed back, reasoning that nudity sexualised a horrific experience for my character, and it sparked quite a debate,” he continued.

“Creative conversations are a feature of all productions, good art is made by questioning the truth and we all want to get it right.”

Sam Heughan in ‘Outlander’ (Starz)

Eventually, the decision was made that Jamie would be seen “sprawled on the dungeon stones”, nude, after the rape had taken place.

“Those closing scenes were incredibility challenging to film, even though, thankfully the nude shots ended on the cutting room floor. It was a harrowing, exhausting experience,” he said.

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Heughan added that the scene “would have been handled differently” if it had been filmed today.

“Times have changed. The cock shot was unnecessary and did betray my trust in the creative team a bit. We don’t need to see the horror to imagine what the characters go through. Imagination is way more powerful.”

Waypoints: My Scottish Journey (Octopus Publishing Group) is out now.