Outlander Cast: Past,Present and Future
I was fortunate to attend Sasnak City in Kansas City Missouri on April 20-22 for a intimate weekend event with eight previous and current Outlander cast members. Former cast members Graham McTavish, Grant O'Rourke, Gary Lewis joined Steven Cree, Cesar Domboy, Lauren Lyle and John Bell. We were also happy to welcome our newest cast member, who will be joining season 4 as Stephen Bonnet, Ed Speleers.
I thoroughly enjoyed seeing the lads we have all missed in season 3. Gary playing the guitar and hugging everyone, yes I got at least two hugs. Graham coming in for a day before his family vacation. Grant talking about his last role doing voice over for a video game and the 30 odd voices he had to perform.
Steven Cree was the only original Outlander cast member still appearing in the series from the first season. He also acted as a sort of MC in the opening panel. It was great to chat with him at the cocktail hour. This was my second time meeting him( as well as Gary, Graham and Grant). Steven told us all he was missing his baby boy who was only four months old. How sweet!
The season 3 newer cast members were so fresh and shiny, like John Bell, who had to be on set the next day but graciously came in spite of it. Not much time to chat with him but he happily posed for pics and signed autographs. It was his first event as an Outlander cast member and it showed in his excitement, interacting with fans. John has previously attended events as Bain in the movie The Hobbit. Ironically he and Graham were both in the Hobbit series together.
Lauren Lyle has such an effervescent charming personality, so vivacious! I was lucky enough to join in on a meet and greet with her and hear some funny BTS stories. Lauren told us she and Cesar played on the South Africa set when they weren't supposed to. She admitted she and Sam Heughan are the jokers on the set and seem to enjoy the same sense of humor.
Cesar Domboy was completely and utterly adorable! I also had a
meet and greet with him. His french accent is not too difficult to understand as I thought it might. He told us he was originally going to be a pro tennis player but realized as he got older that acting was much more fun. He said he learned to play piano from his grandma and that he really missed her since her death.
Ed Speleers was the new lad on the block, as we have yet to see him on Outlander, so this was a treat. Sasnak City was his first event as an Outlander cast member and he was thoroughly enjoying it.
Ed walked around while we waited on line for autographs and gladly took selfies and chatted with the fans. Downtown Abbey viewers may remember him as Jimmy, as well as the lead role in the 2006 movie Eragon. It will be exciting to see him portray the wicked Stephen Bonnet, as book readers are well aware of the important role he plays in the series. I, for one can't imagine him playing anything else but charming and gracious! I'm sure he will be fantastic in spite of it!!
The panels with this group were so much fun. At one point an audience member asked Steven and the others to sing the Skye Boat Song. He seemed a little befuddled ( did he not know the words...horror of horrors, or just shy??) but stated he thought we could sing it better. The audience quickly started to sing it and the cast joined in, Cesar and Lauren even took their phones out to take pics.
I met so many other fans here, some new and some old, some names I finally can put faces to, from Facebook and Twitter. Everyone so was just so thrilled to be spending their weekend making new Outlander memories.
There were so many other antidotes and interactions, too much to remember, but a great weekend. A fantastic experience had by all. Seeing the past, present and future cast all together at one event was especially exciting. A great way to help wait out the seemingly endless droughlander.
