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Heughan and Balfe as Jamie and Claire on season eight of Outlander in 2026.Robert Wilson
Now that the horny antics of Heated Rivalry are sweeping the globe, what would Balfe tell breakout stars Connor Storrie and Hudson Williams about navigating their newfound fame? “I haven’t seen Heated Rivalry yet,” she admits. “But it seems that phenomenon far eclipses our show. You got to just be grateful for the experience,” Balfe continues, adding with a laugh: “And make sure that you send messages to your parents not to watch certain episodes.”
And a word of warning from one half of TV’s most beloved onscreen couples to another: know when to log off. “The fans have been beyond generous, sending so much love towards us, and initiatives we’ve supported. That has far eclipsed the negativity,” says Balfe. But she’s also learned the value in staying offline. “In the beginning, we were all so much more active on social media, or at least I used to be back in the day before it became a cesspool,” she says. “It’s hard not to absorb some of it. But then you quickly realize these people aren’t in my life. My life is not online.”
These days, Balfe utilizes her social platform to raise awareness for causes close to her heart, including the current humanitarian crisis in Gaza. “I’ve always been politically literate and voiced my opinions before I was an actor,” she says. “If you’re standing up for children, that just goes without saying. That to me isn’t even being political, that’s being a human being. We should all be able to just blanketly agree that children should be protected. That shouldn’t be picking a side. If you’re alive at this moment, you should be able to just live how you want.” Although Balfe is inclined to get politically involved, each actor must make that decision for themselves, she adds, “I don’t think that we should be policing each other.”
Balfe often felt a calling towards advocacy during her eight seasons on Outlander. At the start of season five, she and Heughan became executive producers alongside mainstay EPs Ronald D. Moore, Maril Davis, and Matthew B. Roberts. “The writers changed every season. Sam and I were the throughline that had to filter all these different voices that were coming in so that the character remained the same throughout,” she explains now. “Like with any job, if you’re going to be somewhere for a decade, you need to keep growing. You need to keep adding to your skillset, otherwise you become stagnant.”
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Savannah Walsh
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