Murtagh Spotted in Season 4! Now… Will He Get Married???

Cover Photo by John Cooper Photography

*Spoilers for book and non book readers.

We fans almost always have differing opinions about the show’s choices to make departures from the books. Some of us like them, some of us don’t, and there are normally folks on all points of the continuum between strongly agree and strongly disagree each time it happens. Except when it came to the decision to save Murtagh…

Photo: @alexana

The dissenters, (which do exist apparently), are few and far between, which is a testament to the universal love among fans for the character of Murtagh, adapted and brought to life by Duncan Lacroix. 

When we left Murtagh in Episode 303, All Debts Paid, the prisoners were lined up, and suddenly, 

Jamie was plucked out of the line and taken away, to the obvious dismay of Murtagh, Leslie, and Hayes. 

Jamie asked where the prisoners were being taken, and the guard explained that Ardsmuir Prison was closing, and the prisoners would be moved to the colonies (except Jamie, who of course went to Helwater). 

These two communicate everything with their expressions. Murtagh is distraught at being separated from his godson: protecting Jamie has been his reason for being. Suddenly they are ripped apart, perhaps to never see each other again, and there’s nothing he can do.

Jamie has always had his godfather with him, like a shadow. Murtagh was ill and almost died in Ardsmuir, and Jamie likely doesn’t know if he’ll survive the journey to the colonies. Helpless, this is their inadequate, heart breaking goodbye

And we never saw Murtagh again in Season 3.

So, what happens next? Do we see Murtagh in Season 4?

It looks like we do.

Outlander Headquarter tweeted this today…

Now, those of you who follow this blog know that I don’t generally post show spoilers – as I am a fan first, and one of the few who likes to be surprised by the plot changes, the costumes, the sets, and how they do everything visually. But, this is Murtagh wer’re talkin’ ’bout. 

It’s fun to imagine and speculate. And it makes me happy to know that Sam, Cait, and Duncan are getting to work together again, as I presume it makes them very happy!

The plot thickens…

Now, we know that book character Duncan Innes was not introduced in Season 3, and we know that Jocasta Cameron marries Duncan Innes in Drums of Autumn. Might Duncan Lacroix fill the shoes of Duncan Innes? It’s possible. Murtagh is the right age*, and he did have a thing for Jocasta’s big sister, Ellen. And we know that Jocasta does resemble Ellen. hmmm ?. 

 

Let’s see… Jocasta and Murtagh… can we picture it?

    

(For more on Maria Doyle Kennedy as Jocasta: Go HERE)

In a Sept Q&A, before Duncan left Twitter due to his account being hacked, he answered some questions about Murtagh. (For Full Duncan Q&A: Go HERE)

One question was about love scenes…

Duncan: Anyone with bad enough eye-sight to take the job?

Eh… do you think he’s talking about the actress or the character… Hmmmm ??

Regarding that, I’m not sure how much of Duncan Innes’ character would be transferred to Murtagh, but book fans will remember that Duncan Innes suffered from erectile disfunction ?. I don’t think Claire actually treated him for that, which is a good thing, as I can’t really see Caitriona and Duncan making it through that scene! I think Phaedre ends up “treating” him for that ailment <hee hee>. It’s possible, since there was in fact no Duncan Innes introduced in Voyager, that this part of the storyline will disappear altogether, time will tell. But we will have a Murtagh in Season 4

More from his Sept Q&A, regarding Murtagh’s future…

https://twitter.com/dixongrimes/status/913459134913183744

Duncan: I’m excited to find out. I can’t imagine it would be easy for him separated from Scotland and Jamie. But he’s a survivor 

About a reunion with Fergus…yay!

Duncan: That’s an interesting one. Depends how time has changed them both in the meantime but I’m guessing they’d still make a good team 

When asked what Murtagh would do if he met Brianna, (which he may well do in S4)…

Duncan: I think he’d be quite the guard dog when it comes to Brianna. She’s bound to remind him of Jamie’s mother so he’d be very protective. 

 
*I looked around for Murtagh’s age recently in prep for this piece, and couldn’t find it anywhere, so I went to the source ?…

Now, according to Outlander Wiki, Brian Fraser was born in 1691, and if Murtagh Fitzgibbons Fraser is his same age, (as his creator states above), Murtagh would be a ripe old 76 at the beginning of Drums (1767), and he would be a riper 80 by the end of this book (1771). Who knows, maybe he’s drinking from the same fountain of youth as Ned Gowan, and he will last for a long while yet ?. However, a torturous goodbye to this beloved character in Season 4 is always a (unwelcome) possibility. 

Regardless of what role Murtagh plays on Fraser’s Ridge, it’ll be great to see him again, and it’ll be a joy to see him in Jamie and Claire’s lives. Welcome back Duncan Lacroix. Another reason to be super excited for Season 4! 

I’ll just update and close with this fantastic piece of fan art by Cyanbrise – the whole story right there – thank you Angie West ?.

Source: Outlander Wiki

 

33 comments on “Murtagh Spotted in Season 4! Now… Will He Get Married???

  1. I recall reading somewhere but I can’t recall where (except that it was a legit source), that Murtagh isn’t going to marry Jocasta. What they’re going to do with him is anyone’s guess. I’m just glad that he’s still alive!!

  2. Hi Courtney, I hope you do not mind me saying that Duncan Innes does not appear in the book Voyager at all, so your sentence “It’s possible, since there was in fact no Duncan Innes introduced in Voyager, that this part of the storyline will disappear altogether, time will tell” has no meaning, really.

    I really hope they will not replace him by Murtagh. If they want to keep Murtagh as Jamie’s godfather and guardian, fine, but I will not like the story to change completely and see him marry Jocasta. Later in the story, Jocasta and Duncan will leave and go somewhere else. This is all I am going to say. A lot of fans have not read the books, so I do not want to spoil everything.

      • You are right Courtney, I remember that but forgot that it was Duncan. I am just re-reading it. But I still do not thing Murtagh will marry Jocasta.

    • Duncan Innes is in book voyager quite a bit actually. He steers the ship to rescue them after the cave. He is one of Jamie’s smugglers when the man is found hanged after the botched smuggling run (Jamie tells Claire one of his men is a traitor but it can’t be innis because he’s not strong enough to hang a man, having only one arm.) in addition to the parts mentioned above where Claire asks Yi Tien cho to treat Innis’ phantom arm symptoms with the acupuncture needles

  3. I have secretly been hoping for months that Duncan Lacroix will take over the role of Duncan Innis in season four. Starz please make this happen.

  4. Oh, l’m so hoping this will be the case. I usually don’t like for the writers to mess with the books, but I would welcome this change. I, along with most other Outlander fans, love Murtagh.

  5. For me, seeing Murtagh will be one of the highlights of Season 4 . I find that Duncan’s acting is of the same caliber as Cat and Sam’s.

  6. Innes was introduced in season 3. He was the crew member who Jamie talked out of killing himself. But Duncan Innes would have been much older than that character. Having Murtagh replace Duncan in the series makes sense. He, like Jocasta, should be in his 60’s when Jamie and Claire show up at Jocasta’s plantation. And it would make sense to have him marry Ellen’s sister, since he had wanted to marry Ellen before she married Brian Fraser. But this is all speculation until we see what happens in season 4. Fun to think about, unless you want the series to follow the books as closely as possible.

  7. Hello! Well I will be the only “no” on bringing Murtagh back. I love Duncan as Murtagh, I hated reading he died and seeing him die. But I think him being dead makes !. Jamie become the man Claire finds again and 2. I think it strengthens the bond with Ian. But in truth my real problem is this, the books are too wonderful to “rewrite”. If the writers have a book between them , then write it and publish. This is suppose to be Diana’s “Outlander” series. I understand that the writers have to cull the books because of time and amount. However, the books don’t need to be rewritten. I for one want to see the books come to life. I thought they butchered “Voyager” and it shows. They took the heart out of the story. Thanks for reading.

    • I like Mutagh also but it really messes up the story for him and Jocasta to be in love. By the way I’m trying to remember didn’t the book say out right or at lest hint that Jocasta was really in love with her slave Ulysses’s? And I like the story of Duncan and Faydra. I hate it when they really start rewriting a book.

  8. I’m a dissenter. Duncan was great, but murtagh needed to die at culloden. It affected Jamie’s leadership at Ardsmuir, and it will affect too much in the future.
    Not happy with this change.

  9. It makes me a little bit sick to my stomach to think about Murtagh, who was first imprisoned, then moved to the Colonies as an indentured servant, going on to marry a slave-owner. This character deserves much better treatment. I am among those who would rather have seen him die honorably at Culloden protecting the person he vowed to protect.

  10. So, how did you hear that his account at Twitter was hacked? It dropped dead one day, many of us figured if he’d been hacked they would have just taken it back for him, they have for others whose accounts were hacked. Are you sure it’s not just a shut off for filming or taking a break? If it had been leaving on purpose, I think he would have said goodbye.

  11. He would be welcome in any capacity. He did have a dalliance with Suzette when they were in France.
    could be brought back as his son like Dougal played his son. Just a thought????

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