Caitríona Balfe, Sam Heughan & the 'Outlander' Cast Talk Relationships & Endings

It was the best of times; it was the end of times. But really what is time? For Caitríona Balfe, Sam Heughan, Sophie Skelton, Richard Rankin, and John Bell, it has been more than a decade of their lives making the time-traveling hit show Outlander. In October, the cast visited the SheKnows studios to reflect on the last 11 years and celebrate the almost end of the best party ever — their jobs. Based on the popular nine-book series by Diana Gabaldon, Outlander is now in its seventh and penultimate season, and officially wrapped filming in November, marking the big finale of a long chapter in their lives. Heughan and Balfe, who’ve brought Jamie and Claire Fraser to life, talked with us in the studio about their on-screen relationship and being off-screen work partners and friends for so many years. And after the shoot, we chatted in-depth with Balfe, Skelton, and Bell to learn what makes one of television’s greatest casts tick. Like a clock. There’s a time-travel joke somewhere in there.

Shortly after the shoot, Heughan left on a trip and is currently climbing Mt. Everest, as one does when they finally get some free time. His partner in time and crime, Balfe, opened up about what it has been like for them and what she loves most about working with the cast. Skelton and Bell reveal why they’ve loved working with Balfe and Heughan, how they’ve grown up on this show, and why the cast is like family to them.

So without further ado, read what the cast had to say about this amazing journey they’ve been on.

Caitríona Balfe — Claire Fraser

SheKnows: You all have been working together for 11 years. What you have loved most about working with this gang? Let’s start with John Bell…

Caitríona Balfe: John Bell is just light. He brings the light, he brings the glitter, he brings the shine. He is always up-tempo and in a positive mood, and he’s just such a sweetheart. Adore, adore, adore. First impression, he was a little baby. I mean, he was so young. We didn’t work together that much because our storylines didn’t really overlap. But I started hearing sneaky little rumors that he liked to have a lot of fun. When we were all in South Africa, I was working a lot, and he and the other people were having a lot of fun. So, I was like, “Oh, he seems like somebody I should get to know better.”

SK: I love it. Let’s move on to Sophie. What do you love about working with Sophie?

CB: Awwww. Oh, my God, I love so much about that woman. First of all, I was so struck by her, because when she first started, she was quite young, and she was so self-possessed and so smart, and I would look at her and I was like, ‘How is she? How is she managing to be so mature about all of this?’ Because I would just be an emotional mess about things, and she was just so poised and self-assured about stuff. Over the years, I truly feel like she’s become my sister. I adore her. She has got such integrity, and she is just such an amazingly beautiful human being, and I really adore her.

SK: And you guys have been together for 10 years!

CB: I know!

SK: Crazy. Okay, Richard!

CB: Richard Rankin! I adore Richard. I have to say, in the beginning, I couldn’t quite work him out. I’m not gonna lie. I was like, ‘Who is this guy?’ He was, you know, one of those cocky Scottish guys. But Richard is such a surprising human. He has got depth and such creativity and such an artistic nature. He continues to endear and surprise me. He’s such a sweetheart.

SK: I love how you said cocky Scottish guy. And then he’s the sweetest.

CB: He’s the sweetest, but I think sometimes, he, as we all do, we present something, and it’s not always our true nature.

R: So, for you and Sam, you’ve always both said, from day one you’ve had each other’s backs. Is there a story that exemplifies having each other’s backs that you can remember?

CB: Oh my God, there’s so many. Sam and I, I feel like we are truly family. And we may not always be the closest in terms of, like, we don’t hang out maybe as much as sometimes he hangs out with other people on the cast, or I hang out with other people on the cast. I think just because sometimes our interests divide, but we truly have each other’s backs. Like, truly are there for each other.

I mean, the first thing that comes to mind, I was having a tough time with a scene and a situation this season, and you know, Sam’s the first person to come to my trailer and be there for me and kind of talk me through it. And talk me down off my ledge and just support me and be such a good f***** human.

A reciprocal one… This is going back a few seasons, but we would do this stuff for each other. He was having a really hard time in his personal life about something, and right before we were getting to do a take, I saw he looked at his phone. And I could see that he was very upset about something. And so, I was like, “He needs a minute, but they’re about to go.” And I was just like, “Ahhhh! I have to go to the toilet!” And I ran out of the room just to stop things so that he could have his minute. And I’m sure everyone thought I had diarrhea, but I was willing to look like I had diarrhea for that man. So yeah, that’s how deep our love goes.

SK: Later on, did you tell anyone? Were you like, ‘I actually was fine.’

CB: No, no, I let it go, I let it go. I let it be.

SK: That’s true friendship love. Chemistry is such a funny concept, and I think a lot of people would say that you two define chemistry, but how do you define it? Looking back on the last 11 years, why do you think it works so well?

CB: I think because we both champion each other. Sam is not somebody who leads with his ego, and I try not to either. I’m sure we both have healthy ones that serve us in some purposes in other ways. But I’m not out there to try and be the best person in anything, and neither is he. We just want each other to shine, and we want the scenes to shine and the work to shine. And I think we always put the work first. I think that as actors, all you have to do is get out of your own way and just let the work speak for itself.

SK: And you have your signature head touch, all those things. Do you guys just do that stuff naturally?

CB: I mean we’ve been working together for 11 years. There’s a language that’s unspoken that has just evolved between us. My head is probably more full of Claire and Jamie memories than of my own! I just think we’ve had the privilege of growing with these characters, of living with these characters, and it’s just become second nature. And it’s having a deep trust in each other and a deep respect for each other. And a deep love for each other.

SK: Speaking of, the show is ultimately about a love story, and it’s a long-running marriage, which I feel like no other television shows really do. It’s always about the couple—

CB: Roseanne did!

SK: Okay Roseanne… I know how you feel about John Goodman! [Ed: Balfe has admitted that John Goodman was one of her first crushes].

CB: [laughing] Somebody else can analyze that one!

SK: Yeah, we’ll talk about that in a different interview! What do you think sets this couple and this love story apart? And what was a favorite “couple” moment?

CB: Ooh, what sets them apart, I mean, Diana [Gabaldon] created this amazing recipe. You have two people who are very similar but couldn’t be from more different backgrounds. I mean, not even like socially different and nationally different. But also, I don’t know what the word for time in that context is! But, yeah, they’re just so different, but yet so similar in so many ways. And I think that that just creates this great tension between the love and the fight for control and the fight for understanding and all of those things that we want in our lives. And I think everybody can see a bit of themselves in them. And they’re fallible, you know, they’re not perfect. They have many flaws, but they respect each other, and they push each other. And I think all of those things are what makes it so aspirational.

And the passion, I mean, we all want that passion in our lives, and we want that passion to sustain, you know? I think most long-married people probably roll their eyes at that. [laughing] Still, everyone wants to believe that that is possible and manageable and attainable.

SK: I always think of my grandparents, who were married for 75 years, and they didn’t even stay in the same room by the end. I mean, they really loved each other!

CB: I think love morphs and changes over time. And evolves over time, and what Sam and I were really interested in, was finding what that was in that context of Jamie and Claire’s relationship because it can’t just be the first, you know… lust is the most prominent thing in the beginning, but then passion can change, and passion can still be there, but exist in many different forms. And we were very interested in exploring what that was. The writers were too, and we would push them, and I feel like they would push us. And I think that that was a good, fruitful relationship as well, where in that tension between each side pushing each other, it creates something truthful, something honest.

SK: I love that. In 7b, like every season, Jamie and Claire will be ripped apart and inevitably have their big signature reunion moment. Looking back on all of your reunion scenes, how do you guys do that? There’s usually some big run, a kiss… Do you guys ever mess that up? How does that not go wrong?

CB: [Laughs] Weirdly, they don’t go wrong that much, although Sam is just so big and strong that quite often, I’ll run into him, and it’s literally like hitting a brick wall. So, I usually get a bit winded. I’m always like, ‘Oh God, ugh!’ [mimics running into Heughan], which you just make look like pangs of passion. I don’t know, again, it’s just that weird thing that we’ve been doing it so long that it just sort of seems second nature.

SK: Do you have a favorite reunion moment in all the seasons?

CB: I mean, just because it’s so… kind of cliché, but kind of amazing, and you always sort of want to do one of them in your life, but the running on the beach in season 3!

SK: Yes! I want them to release the behind-the-scenes for that, it’s such a beautiful shot.

CB: We did almost get drowned, as well. I can’t remember exactly, there was a photo shoot where we sort of replicated it. And in one or the other, we were having the kiss, and then we were on the beach, and then the tide was coming in, so we were getting washed and splattered. But yeah, that one has to be the most obvious romantic one.

SK: And this, this season, how would you describe the reunion-ish?

CB: Maybe not quite as well as Claire would have hoped. Definitely not as well as she hoped. Yeah, complicated. A little bit like, “Ooh, whoops.”

SK: Exactly, great description! How have you and Sam influenced each other in a good way and a not-good way? Like, what’s a bad habit you taught each other and what’s a great habit you got from each other?

CB: Ah, okay, I’ll go with the good habits first. I hope, I mean he’s taught me a little bit more about control and not popping off as much. And I hope I’ve taught him a little bit more about not avoiding confrontation as much. And the bad habits we’ve definitely encouraged each other’s absolute juvenile sense of humor far too much. So yeah, we descend into absolute juvenile rubbish.

Sophie Skelton — Brianna Randall Fraser MacKenzie

SK: Sophie, you and Richard started around the same time. Tell me what it’s been like to work together?

Sophie Skelton: It’s super-rare to come on to a show as a duo. We were really thrown in the deep end. I felt so grateful to have him through that. There’s a lot of laughter on set. Especially when we’re all together in scenes. They once had to send Sam and Richard off-set. Caitríona’s close-up, they couldn’t get through it. And so, it was just Caitríona and me. We turned around and Richard was clawing at the windows, “Let us back in!” We’d just come off a press tour, had landed really late on a Sunday night, and we went straight into reshoots at 4 a.m. Monday morning, so we were on another planet. We didn’t know our head from our bottom.

Another scene Sam and Caitríona did that I saw, they have to call the character “Fanny,” which in the UK means something that’s not as commonly used in America. We just all found this absolutely hilarious. The air in the studio is very dense, there’s little oxygen, and it’s very dusty, you get kind of quite lightheaded. So as soon as something is remotely immaturely funny, you’re just done. Caitríona has the most contagious laughter so once she’s gone, we all are.

SK: Is there a story you can share about Richard where he has supported you?

SS: When we were filming, we were staying in the north of Scotland at a hotel, and I was having a phone conversation and was sad. I hung up, then heard a knock on the bathroom wall. I thought, “Did I just hear that?” Heard it again, and thought, “That’ll be Richard.” I knocked on the wall, and he knocked back. So, I went to his front door. He opened the door, and he just gave me a hug.

SK: That’s a good knock. Let’s move on to John Bell!

SS: He and I have been like the kids of the Outlander world. We’ve grown up on this show. I love him so much. He has really good insight into the world. He always makes scenes fun. He takes his job so seriously, he’s like having a little brother on set, but then when you’re off set, he’s kind of like the fun uncle. He’s the one who plans things and will corral everyone, and he brings us all out of our hibernation mode. Because we are quite bad for that. He’s really good at just kind of pulling you out of your shell and making sure the fam sticks together. I love the relationship with Brianna and Young Ian. You know, maybe she should have said, “Yes.” [Ed: Young Ian proposed marriage to his cousin, Brianna in season 4].

SK: Wow. A little cousin marriage twist. You guys once did a TikTok on set. A cousin dance. Do you remember that?

SS: He’s very good at the Tiktok on set. But didn’t that one get taken down? I think because we were carrying (set) guns.

SK: I thought you had a broom.

SS:  Interesting, I don’t know. I’m not on TikTok. I know nothing about TikTok. I thought it was spelled with a “C” like a clock, tick tock, until quite recently. I think Izzy has become his TikTok sidekick.

SK: Oh, you got recast.

SS: I’ve been bumped. That’s okay.

SK: It’s for the best. But you’re also a little bit of a grandma thinking it’s tick with a “C” Tok.

SS:  I mean that could be on me, or they could have spelled it properly.

SK: Good point, you love good grammar. So, tell us what’s it like working with Caitríona?

SS: It’s a funny dynamic, because in real life, Caitríona, she’s one of my best friends. It’s quite weird to do the switch when you’re then on set and I’m calling her “Mama.” Same with Sam, you’re goofing around off-set, then all of a sudden you’re like, “Da!” I love the way Caitríona works. I really love when an actor gives you full-on eye contact, and you can just feel the energy between you, and everything else outside kind of dissipates. We are also protective over preserving that mother-daughter relationship shown on screen. We just know each other so well. Between takes, we’re always talking, you just never necessarily know what’s going to happen in a scene. I love that. It’s a cool playground with her. She’s one of my favorite people to work with.

SK: Did you screen test with her?

SS: I did! So many things on that trip went wrong. My first time to LA, my ear was completely perforated on the plane, I couldn’t hear properly at all. My Uber crashed right in front of me, it pulled up and had a crash. Luckily, I wasn’t in it. My phone stopped working. My car didn’t turn up to go to the audition.  

In the audition, I remember just seeing Caitríona… I just felt I got her. I’d spent so much time watching season 1 over and over, studying her and Sam’s body expressions, facial expressions, little tics that they have, and things that they do. Because I’d ingrained that into my muscle memory, it just kind of came out, and I didn’t have to think about it. There’s a scene where Claire goes to touch Brianna, and I just batted Claire’s hand away. Caitríona said after, “That was when we decided it was you.” Because no one else dared to do that. I was like, “Get off me!” We were just both so in the scene. Clicked with her straight away.

SK: Is there a story you can share that shows how Caitríona has supported you over the years?

SS: She and I used to go to yoga on Saturday mornings, we’d force ourselves. But now it’s very sweet. She lives just around the corner. Sometimes she’ll just know if I’m going through something in my personal life. She’ll just pop around for a glass of wine, we’ll order Indian. She knows so much that’s going on in my life, and I feel she can see more than I can, patterns I’m repeating. She always has this classy, beautiful, supportive way of telling me that but not doing it in a way — she’s never trying to edge me to a decision, and she never says too much. Sometimes she knows me better than I know myself. It’s really beautiful.

SK: How about Sam? What do you love about working with Sam?

SS: For Sam, Caitríona, and I, it’s not very easy for us to let our guards down. It comes with the territory of the job. You’re always on guard with mobile phones. The world isn’t always a safe space. With the three of us, from early on, we had that dynamic, that safety. I get to see a different side of them. Especially with Sam, he’s such a nerdy little kid, and a little dorky, and it’s so fun. We’ll be weird dancing between takes, and all of a sudden, it’s Jamie and Brianna.

SK: Will you release some footage of this dancing between scenes? I think you did release one.

SS: I did! I will take them to my grave unless he wants otherwise. But I have many a video of Sam Heughan jamming out with his dance moves to Taylor Swift, skidding across the floor.

SK: Skidding across the floor?! What song does he love the most that he has rocked out to that you may or may not have video footage of?

SS: ‘Shake it off.’

SK: A classic!

SS: Once, I had some friends over, and Sam was round. We were playing Taylor. It may have been quite loud. There may have been a knock at the door that we didn’t hear. Then another knock. We all just hid! I hid behind the oven. I don’t even know how I did that. One hid under the table. Sam’s in the hallway, standing against the door, and we voted him to be the one to speak to the man. The security guy was like, “Look, guys, can you just turn it down a bit?” So we turned it down, but maybe not quite to his satisfaction. But it’s Taylor!

This was in London and Caitríona had been at the place earlier that day. She’d just left. I remember putting Sam in an Uber in the evening. When I woke up in the morning, all the water had been shut off! I messaged Sam. We were just in fits of giggles. They shut off the water because we were playing Taylor so loud. I think he just didn’t like Taylor Swift, and he was having a moment.

SK: Did you two ever succeed in getting Caitríona to love Taylor as much as you do?

SS: Yeah, but I inadvertently went about it in a two-pronged approach. First approach, now that we are all in one make-up trailer, I would just play Taylor. Exposure therapy. The other, I may have played it for her son and gotten to her that way!

SK: Well played. I feel like you, Sam, and Caitríona have always had this kind of threesome (not like that!), this great relationship. You three hang out more than Jamie, Claire, and Brianna have.

SS: We were just saying it’s so rare that just the three of them get a scene! I know we say a lot on the show that it feels like family, but those two are my family. We were coming back from a fan convention in Paris. Caitríona, Sam, and I were at the airport. We nearly missed the flight, because they were helping me through something and just kept talking. It’s those kind of friendships where you can be a broken record, but no one gets sick of hearing it.

SK: How about a chaos story? There must be many.

SS: At the height of lockdown, when you couldn’t go inside, Sam and I were in Caitríona’s back garden, and she’d set up this really nice cocktail thing outside. And maybe I hadn’t used a cocktail shaker for a long time. I forgot to put on the lid, and I got super excited about shaking it. I overzealously went for it. The whole thing went all over Caitríona, the three of us were just covered in booze [laughing]. And I was just like, “Oh, good job. Good thing we did this outside.”

SK: So, you’re a very unreliable bartender is what I got from that story.

SS: Wouldn’t trust me with knives or appliances or my own hands and feet.

SK: Did your first impression of Sam and Caitríona line up with how you feel about them now? Were you intimidated by them when you first met?

SS: They’re such warm people. Caitríona sets a good precedent. I remember one of the first days of season 3, she just walked in the morning, she looked around at the whole set, and she said, ‘Good morning, everyone.’ And it sounds like such a normal thing, but not many people do it. And I thought, “Oh my god, she does that too!” Sam’s the same. He knows everyone’s names. They ask about the kids, they just set a really friendly, respectful, equal set. They’re beautiful. They really hold the reins so well.

SK: Didn’t the four of you (Caitríona, Sam, Richard), get tacos or something for the set?

SS: Yeah! I think Sam and Caitríona got like an ice cream truck for everyone. There was one year we just ordered loads of pizzas for everyone just because the food isn’t great on set. Sam, Caitríona, Richard, and I actually have a group chat, and we will just send each other bad lunches. We’re going to set up an Instagram account at some point!

John Bell — Ian Murray

SK: John, ready to chat all about your co-stars? Let’s start with Caitríona. What do you love most about working with her?

John Bell: I think Caitríona creates a really super fun and playful environment on set that I respond to really well. She’s someone that really has your back when it comes to creative decisions, if you’re thinking about improvising stuff. She’s always up for play, finding something unique in the scene, and she doesn’t exactly tell you what to do, but if you start talking to her about an idea, she’s very good at guiding you and helping you find the words. She’s a facilitator.

SK: Oh, that’s great. Do you remember your first impression of Caitríona? Were you nervous to meet her?

JB: I remember the first time I met her. She was in bed. I think they had just finished an intimate scene, and it was my first day! First impression was she was incredibly friendly and warm, despite the slightly vulnerable situation that she was in, but also kind of hilarious, because she was like, ‘Welcome to Outlander.’ [laughs] For our scene… I was very nervous. It was my first day on Outlander, my first day back acting in a while as well. But she just immediately put those nerves at ease, and it became a very special day.

SK: I think that was when your character thinks she’s a prostitute?

JB: Yes, yes, happens to her a lot!

SK: Is there a story you can share specifically when Caitríona supported you early on?

JB: Even through rockier times in our lives, Caitríona’s been there for all of us. In South Africa, I remember I was going through a breakup, and she was there for me and helped me. We chatted on the beach one day all about it. She always has time for you. It’s hard to think of just one, but she’s been my first port of call for personal and professional moments, and will continue to be, honestly. I’m seeing her tomorrow.

SK: So, you’re a forever friend!

JB: Yes, she’s not getting rid of me!

SK: You once told me a story about your dynamic on set, and you said that you got a look from Caitríona that kind of sent shudders up your spine. Tell us what happened.

JB: It is a funny story, we laugh about it a lot, and it was a lesson learned. There’s time for play and there’s time for work, right? On that day, it was one of those dining scenes. We were all having a laugh. When we’re all together, something happens between us where we get a bit drunk on each other’s energies. But what I didn’t realize, in my naivety, was that play time was over, and that we were going on to rehearse on camera. When we rehearse on camera, that means stop mucking around. It’s time to lock in. And I made a joke, and Caitríona, looked at me with such ice [laughs].

SK: Was it like “mom dagger” eyes?

JB: It was! It was Big Sis dagger eyes. The whole set, not even just me, the whole crew. Everybody was just like, “Oooh.” And I think she said (very calmly), “Would you like me to do that again?” I have never felt so embarrassed in my whole life. However, I just kind of went, “Sorry, sorry, Caitríona!” And she did it again. Then after we finished, she playfully gave me a little tap on the head, and it was just one of those moments where I was like, “I get you. I get what you were trying to do, you were letting me know. You were teaching the young pup.” And it never happened again!

SK: Lesson learned. For Sam, what do you love most about working with him? First impression?

JB: Sam is similar, the playfulness and an ability to kind of work through things really impressed me with Sam. He has such a natural leadership quality to him that you always feel really taken care of in scenes with him, I’ve always thought that Sam is one of the most generous actors on our show. He gives you his 100 percent, whether the camera’s on you or the camera’s on him. His generosity is something that I love about him.

SK: Were you nervous meeting them? He and Caitríona are sort of like gentle giants.

JB: I was more nervous to just find my place on this show, and they both helped with that. So actually, meeting them wasn’t nerve wracking, per se, as much as it was curiosity. They’re just people at the end of the day. I didn’t have a lot of time to build up who these people were before starting, so I just kind of took them as their first impressions, and my first impressions were that they’re a couple of goofballs. So, I was like, this is going to be so much fun.

SK: Is there a story about Sam that you’d like to share that stands out?

JB: We did an emotionally-charged scene in Season 4, where Ian reveals the details of what happened to him in Jamaica with Geilles. That day was incredibly challenging, emotionally, physically. It was my 20th birthday. I remember feeling so supported and encouraged by him. He’s a great encourager. So, if Caitríona is the facilitator, he’s the encourager. He will always tell you, “That was a great take there. Loved that right there.” As actors, we can get in our head a little bit. But he’s like, ‘No, you’re doing a fantastic job here, John, it’s an honor to be doing this scene with you.’ So yeah, that’s where it goes with Sammy.

SK: Like a cheerleader, till the end.

JB: Yes! A cheerleader, exactly!

SK: Tell me what’s it been like working with Sophie, your on-screen cousin, who you accidentally proposed to. Oops!

JB: [laughs] Sophie’s one of the most loving people I know. Whenever you’re with her, she’s like, “How are you doing, Baba? What’s going on? Where are you at emotionally today?” She is someone that you can’t help but trust and become immediately quite close with. Her contribution to this whole journey has felt like somebody who really is in my corner and is ready to, protect, fight, uplift me in whatever I’ve needed. She’s just that classic sister energy. She’s curious and listens to you really deeply. I really appreciate her kind of love. She’s got endless, endless love.

SK: What a great way to describe her. How about Richard?

JB: The Ricardo himself. I love that man dearly. He has been a rock for me, throughout this entire journey. Someone that I have leaned on a lot. He’s someone who I trust wholeheartedly. He has an energy that you feel very safe around. He’ll make the laughs happen. He’ll make you funnier just by being around him. He may come across as a little guarded or dry, but the drier he is, the more he loves you.

SK: Tell me, what do you carry in your wallet?

JB: I left my wallet back at a party we were having at his [place]. I went over, picked it up, gave him a cuddle, went off. I had to travel to New York. I go to pay for a bottle of water at the airport. And there’s so many tiny cutouts of Roger that he had snuck into my wallet. So, we’ve got the lover, the facilitator, the cheerleader… he’s the joker. They made me giggle so much that I can’t take them out of my wallet now. I love the fact that there’s a little Ricardorito in my wallet at all times.  

SK: Caitríona described you as the light of the Outlander cast.

JB: Did she?

SK: She said really beautiful things, which you’ll read.

JB: I feel like Cynthia Erivo [wipes a tear] and Ariana Grande.

[Ed: This Wicked meets Outlander photo was taken before Ariana Grande and Cynthia Erivo’s viral moment… maybe they really are time travelers, how did they know?]

SK: Tell us about the fun things you’ve made the cast do that they have not wanted to do. You did manage to make all of them dance on set for TikTok. And then you peaced out of TikTok.

JB: I had a mission to get one with everybody. I don’t think I quite got Caitríona, though—

SK: You got Caitlin and Caitríona together.

JB: That’s right! I got Caitlin and Caitríona together dancing under a rainbow. I forgot about some of my greatest work. I haven’t gotten Caitríona on her own.

SK: There’s still time! You, Sam, and Caitríona have worked together so much over the years, how would you say that the three of you have impacted each other in a good way and not-good way?

JB: Am I the devil or the angel on the shoulder? We’ve impacted each other’s lives so beautifully through our performances together. It’s like people that sing together, something passes between you, right? They’ve taken on the responsibility to support all of the cast. They’ve shown us that when someone new is on set, you should be encouraging them, lifting them up. That lesson of ‘you’re no better than anyone else.’ That’s what they’ve taught me from such an early age.

SK: How about the bad? Or the evil?

JB: The bad! There’s no bad! Oh my gosh, the evil. I’m like, “Let’s go and have fun and party and be silly.” We’re like ships in the night. We just missed each other’s possibilities of being bad influences on each other. Caitríona and I often joke, “If I had just been in New York at the same time as you, we would have been absolute chaos together.”

SK: There’s still time!

This interview has been edited and condensed for length and clarity.