With Season 6 of Outlander nearly upon us, the stars of the hit historical drama series have started opening up regarding what fans can expect to see when the new season drops on Sunday night.
And according to Lauren Lyle, who plays Marsali Fraser, viewers can expect some rivalry to develop between Marsali and newcomer Malva Christie (Jessica Reynolds).
Marsali acts as an apprentice to Claire Fraser
Currently, Marsali is an apprentice under Claire, who runs the only medical facility on Fraser’s Ridge. Although, considering it is the 1770s, the medical services on offer are relatively crude — even if Claire has introduced penicillin well before its time.
Marsali has been learning all that is required to help others but Season 5 of Outlander saw the character’s moral code called into question when she had to attend to Lionel Brown (Ned Dennehy), the man who had led the vicious gang rape of Claire.
While Claire may be bound to “do no harm,” Marsali has not yet sworn such an oath and promptly dispatched with Lionel.
Now, in Season 6 of Outlander, Malva has also been taken under Claire’s wing to learn how to heal people. Because of this, it seems conflict will arise between the two apprentices.
Conflict to develop between Marsali and Malva
In an interview with Den of Geek, Caitriona Balfe spoke out about the newcomer Malva and her role on Fraser’s Ridge.
“Malva is this very curious, intense character and Claire is in some ways really taken by her, Balfe said before hinting at a darker storyline involving this character.
“Claire can see that hunger, desire, and eagerness to expand her mind and expand her knowledge. She knows that she’s under a very oppressive father and a very oppressive brother. Claire really feels for her and wants to take her under her wing, which of course may or may not cause her some pain further down the line.”
While Claire may initially be enamored by Malva, Lauren Lyle reveals details of the upcoming rivalry.
Malva comes in, and there’s a little bit of rivalry between Marsali and Malva over working in the surgery,” Lyle explained before adding how much fun it was to film such conflict.
“I loved doing that – giving a bit of space back and a bit of the leeriness in her, a bit of bite back. That was always fun to play, but yeah, it’s all love.”
As for how this will all play out remains to be seen and viewers only have a few short sleeps to wait until they can find out more.
Season 6 of Outlander premieres on March 6, 2022, on Starz.