- Outlander season 5 premieres February 16 on Starz.
- Roger MacKenzie (Richard Rankin) reunited with Brianna Randall Fraser (Sophie Skelton) at the end of season 4.
- The character's squabbles with Brianna have been a topic of debate among fans.
- In this exclusive interview from OprahMag.com's visit to the set in Scotland, Rankin tells us what's next for Roger.
Great news for those who fell in love with the song stylings of Roger MacKenzie in Outlander season 4: Richard Rankin, who plays the time-traveling professor, says you'll be hearing plenty of his dulcet tones next season.
"Unfortunately," Rankin tells me, with more than a touch of self deprecation, "we're trying to squeeze as many in."
Singing is just one of Rankin's talents. He's also made a recent foray into professional photography, showing his work at a Brooklyn exhibit last year. But the Scot is best known for his role as Roger, who first made his debut as Reverend Wakefield's grown-up great nephew in "Dragonfly in Amber" at the end of season 2.
While fans of Diana Gabaldon's source material knew they'd just met a major book character onscreen, it wasn't until season 4 that viewers truly got to know Roger. They also watched his fiery on-again, off-again romance play out with Brianna Fraser (Sophie Skelton), daughter of Jamie (Sam Heughan) and Claire (Caitriona Balfe).
As Rankin himself describes it, "Roger and Bree have always been prone to fighting," and Roger's own part in the pair's squabbles proved divisive among vocal fans of the show in season 4. Defenders pointed to his emotional vulnerability and kindness toward 1960s-era Claire as reasons why they love both Roger and Rankin's portrayal. The character's detractors wondered what Brianna saw in him, claiming that he shamed her for wanting to have sex and generally deeming him the worst (Elle even titled one episode recap "Sorry, But We Hate Roger Now").
Rankin has heard your concerns. "I hadn't really anticipated it, because I think my opinion on Roger is much higher than what the average seemed to be after a couple of our episodes," he says. "But it opened up a lot for debate in terms of who’s right and who’s wrong, and the whys and wherefores of their relationship."
"I engaged with that a fair bit on Twitter," he says. "I was curious as to why people thought the way that they did, and why they had that opinion of—from my perspective—a guy who was really just trying to connect with the woman that he really loves, and who has went kind of above and beyond for her in terms of what he's done."
Of Roger's somewhat conservative views on pre-marital sex and marriage, Rankin would also remind critics that both Roger and Brianna are "also a man and a woman of their time. Roger is the traditional type. And as much as Brianna is a modern woman, a modern woman in the late '60s is still a woman who's very much behind where we are. Right?"
"Their ideas, I don’t think are necessarily right or wrong, they're just different—and they conflict over that," he adds. "I think that creates quite a dynamic and interesting relationship."
You'll see Roger and Brianna on solid ground in season 5. "They’re in a place now where they’re fairly secure with each other," Rankin says. As opposed to season 4, it'll be clear "why the relationship is the way it is, why they have that passion, and why they constantly have that need to find and to reconnect with each other. We see them from a place of having settled in, found their anchors in each other. They have a home and are trying to make home work, but they work, as a partnership."
Connecting with Jamie is a bigger challenge. "Roger's relationship with Jamie this season is very a much focal point, as far as season 5 is concerned," Rankin says. "There are many twists and turns to that relationship, and where we begin, Jamie still has apprehension towards Roger, for the fact that he hesitated in coming back in season 4."
Though Rankin says they've all been on the Ridge together for a bit by the premiere, "I think things just get gradually a little bit worse for Roger before they get better, certainly in Jamie's eyes." As circumstances require them to "come together," their uneasy truce evolves. "One of the most exciting parts of season 5 for me is how Roger proves himself, and how Roger finds his place and his worth."
Roger won't just be bonding with his family, either. "There are relationships farther down the line in season 5—unexpected relationships that you maybe wouldn't even have thought were coming," he teases. Here's hoping he and John Quincy Meyers form a band.
For more articles like these, sign up for our newsletter!
Samantha Vincenty is the former senior staff writer at Oprah Daily.
