The return of Dougal MacKenzie, creating Philadelphia and Matt Roberts has a ship named after him.
The MacKenzie family reunion (and union? ), was filmed on location in Culross Palace, a 16th century merchant’s house which played as Geillis’ house in Cranesmuir back in Season 1. The story creators wanted to present her in exactly the same environment so we instantly recognize that we are back in a familiar space, which is very small, especially when populated with three big men as Graham McTavish, Richard Rankin and Diarmaid Murtagh are all over 6 feet tall!
The return to Geillis’ house was a nostalgic blast from the past from the actors to Set Decorator Stuart Bryce, who has been with Outlander since Season 1, all the way down to the dressing crew at Culross Palace! Don’t you just love a full circle moment?
Stuart wasn’t the only one elated about this storyline. For Richard Rankin, this was a special opportunity to experience the original Outlander world.
And how did the Costume Department approach these original characters’ looks so many years later?
Spoiler alert, for Graham McTavish’s look, it was very easy.
This episode, Outlander visited not only old favorite locations but also brought us to a brand new one: Philadelphia (or at least, Liverpool dressed as it)!
Shooting in Liverpool was a massive undertaking, with the entire production moving down there for weeks. Said Set Decorator Stuart Bryce, “It’s not often we get to open up the world like that. It’s liberating to think of things on a huge scale. Every department put in so much work to get where we did. It was incredible.”
Why Liverpool? Philadelphia was a city built of brick and few cities in the UK fit the bill. Production looked at Dublin, Hull, and more, before landing on Liverpool as the clear favorite. From back alleys, nooks and crannies to vast promenades and main strips, Liverpool had it all.
Three different main areas were created: the New Market set, Canning Street, and Mercy Woodcock’s house, all architecturally different.
Take a look at some of the sketches and renderings that helped guide not only Production Design and Set Decoration, but VFX, who added any elements that couldn’t be brought to life physically.
Making Philadelphia appear bustling meant many Supporting Artists needed to be transformed into citizens of the 1700s!
Said Director Stewart Svaasand, “We wanted to show off the city: the people, the life, and the atmosphere of that world. Having lots of Supporting Actors, carriages, animals, dressing, and streets really helped us to do that… We did it with scale and panache!”
In contrast to the muted tones and rustic shapes we see on the Ridge, the Costume Department brought in a variety of colors, styles, and textures to reflect the different social classes that lived in Philadelphia, a fashion capital at the time, from market traders up through upper class citizens in silk finery.
High fashion traveled from Paris and London at the speed of a boat – the fashion conscious of Philadelphia were only weeks behind the latest European looks.
For Hair and Makeup, a lot of emphasis was on the hair, especially in collaboration with Costume. According to Designer Ann McEwan, both teams have to work closely to make sure a given hairstyle and hat design support each other properly.
Another trick up the team’s sleeve is baking wigs (not unlike a cake). The wigs are soaked, rolled in wooden dowels, set, and baked for two or three hours until set. This makes them much more resilient to anything that may come their way.
One fun fact about a scene that otherwise brought all of us to tears? Showrunner Matthew B. Roberts was surprised with a ship named after him in the script this season – the HMS Roberts, which is captained by the man who delivers the news to Claire about Jamie.
