Rory Alexander steps into the boots — and emotional legacy — of a young Murtagh Fitzgibbons Fraser in Outlander: Blood of My Blood, taking on one of the franchise’s most beloved figures with fresh energy and a keen sense of authenticity. Half Scottish and no stranger to complex, layered characters, Alexander avoids mimicry, instead crafting a Murtagh still unweathered by time — bright-eyed, selfless, and on the cusp of the man fans will one day know. Speaking exclusively to LEWIS Magazine, the Inland and Pistol star reflects on the challenge of honouring the past while making the role entirely his own, his deep creative process across film and TV, and why the best stories are born from trust, risk, and a little chaos.
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In Outlander: Blood of My Blood, you step into the shoes of a young Murtagh Fitzgibbons Fraser — a beloved character in the Outlander universe. What was it like taking on a role with such emotional history, and how did you make the character your own while honouring what came before?
They’re definitely some big shoes to fill. And Murtagh literally only has one pair of boots so I needed to get used to them pretty quickly. Right from the off, I stopped watching the Murtagh scenes in the show because I know that I’d be so tempted to do an impression of what Duncan has already done, and I’m a bad mimic. It felt important to trust that what I was bringing was completely itself, and that the world and the story would bring the right amount of the Murtagh people already know to the part. He’s such a rich character, in the books, Outlander and here, so we are drinking from the same well.
The prequel explores two timelines and the formative stories of Jamie and Claire’s parents. What drew you to this world, and what can fans expect from your version of Murtagh’s early life and relationships?
There aren’t many shows that have been able to explore a relationship like theirs for so long, so the chance to show a new side to it and how it came to be, is so exciting. I’m half Scottish, and still have lots of family here, so it felt like a bit of a homecoming and a chance to show off this gorgeous place to the world. This version of Murtagh is pretty bright eyed – he hasn’t been jaded in the way Duncan’s character has, and that gives me a lot of room to find the fun in the scenes. He’s always just outside where he wants to be, which means he’s got a lot less to lose than others – he’s always putting someone else first, but it’s in the hope that one day he’ll be the star of his own show (that’s not a plug for a Murtagh spin-off).
You were longlisted for a BIFA for your haunting lead role in Inland, acting opposite the likes of Mark Rylance and Kathryn Hunter. How did you approach the psychological depth of your character, and what did you take away from working on such an enigmatic, genre-blending film?
Ah, that film is still something very special to me. It’s a funny one to try to talk about because I still think about it as being a formative experience now. I worked for a long time on that character – I visited psychiatric hospitals across Gloucester to talk to patients there, and I used to sit in the gardens, listening to the different alarms going off intermittently. I wrote a list of about 300 questions and recorded myself answering them, for hours and hours – I didn’t prepare any answers, just sat in character and let each answer be a building block. Sometimes they were absolutely wrong, and at this point I was working on an accent that thankfully got binned very early doors. But mainly, it was the way that film was made. Fridjof wrote it with such love, and we worked on the script together as we came to film it, we then just shot forever, round the clock, just feeling it all out. Mark was the person who made me want to be an actor, having seen him on stage so many times, and it’s a terrifying and wonderful thing to sit opposite your hero and try not to say anything stupid, or forget your lines because you’re watching someone work magic. We would have a fire at the end of every day, and costume would be sewing stuff up as we had a beer and talked, and it felt like the best and only way a film should get made. The actual film is kind of secondary – it’s the moments with Mark and Fritz and feeling like something special was happening that stick, more than anything after. It taught me so much, but mostly how you have to create a language, and a trust between everyone, to make something feel right. It’s why some other things I’ve done don’t have the same effect, because all the different parts are kept separate, and you can’t establish a commonality.
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From gritty realism in Inland to punk rebellion in Pistol, your work spans a wide range of tones and styles. How do you choose your roles — is there a particular theme or emotional thread that draws you in?
Choose is a pretty grand term – there are just sometimes things that come through that feel in my wheelhouse. And I’ve got sad eyes! If I had to diagnose it, I’d say I’ve got a blue streak that colours a pretty happy disposition, so when there’s a part that feels like those two traits are dancing together, I want it. Then there’s the chance to dress up and wear flares, which seems to keep happening. You know when there’s the essence of something real in a script from the first page, and even if that’s in a different character or in the story, then it’s worth following. When an audition comes in that says “Handsome, or tall” as the opening line, my brain kinda switches off. That can’t be how you describe an actual person. There are lots of more gorgeous people out there who would do a much better job than I would – but if it says “This lad is struggling”, perversely I am interested.
You recently wrapped filming on Untamed with Justin Chadwick. Can you share anything about your role in that project and what the experience was like working under his direction?
That film was a mad experience – we were shooting in a castle in Derbyshire, in the Dales, for our part of the film. Our half focussed on a young Shakespeare and his rise to success, and then there’s a second half set in modern day China, which is a curveball – I think it’s one of the only/first Chinese/UK co-productions, so it will be interesting to see how it comes out. The set was also a tourist site, so we would turn up at 6am in chainmail and the wardens wouldn’t allow us in without our lanyards – like we were incredibly keen re-enactors trying to swindle the ticket fee. After 4 weeks of being turned away by the same castle guard, it felt like we were half in ‘Untamed’, half Monty Python. Justin gave us a lot of room and licence, which feels rare in a 14th century castle doing Shakespeare, but his extensive experience of shooting period work could harness the whole thing.
Many viewers may remember your role as Boogie in Pistol, a series packed with energy, attitude, and cultural weight. How did being part of a Danny Boyle production shape your experience on set — and your perspective on the punk movement?
That show was full of beans, there’s no doubt. Having the actual Pistols on set (those who weren’t suing Disney) was just incredible, as well as the musical guidance from Underworld. It was so much bigger than anything I’d done before, and being a cog in a big machine helped remind me how many people it takes to make something. Each piece has to slot together perfectly for the thing to sing. Danny was just so good at telling the story of a scene – he’d be in a room of three hundred people, and get them all to understand why this gig, that song, meant the world at the time, and everyone could buy in so easily. I’m close with a lot of the people from that show, but I don’t know if their characters and me would be having a pint too often. I wouldn’t love to share a bathroom with Sid Vicious, but punk, or post-punk as we have now, is so important. Shifting a cultural dial is rarely pretty, and it normally needs figureheads who feel way outside the status quo to do the heavy lifting, and then a watered-down version enters the mainstream. It was fun playing spitting, fighting people with such a disregard for themselves and the world, and then the camera cutting, having some tea and folding your clothes for the costume department.
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As someone steadily carving out a name in both independent cinema and major franchises, what would you say is your biggest ambition at this stage in your career?
I think it’s about holding on to the good stuff – there’s some amazing work out there and people I’d love to work with; the list is shamelessly long and I write letters in my head to directors as a way to fall asleep. It’s just fun to keep developing a sense of what’s important and try and let that be the guide. I write a lot, with my partner Michael Rivers, and with two of my own projects in the works, I’d so love to see them happen. Hopefully a career is long, or it might be if I keep following the right instincts, which isn’t as easy as it sounds. There’s a bunch of stuff coming up that feels incredibly exciting, so for now, it’s about not letting any standards slip to keep the momentum up, and to know some people, somewhere think it has value to them.
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Photographer: Jemima Marriott
Styling: Nathan Henry
Grooming: Charlie Cullen
