“A Really Strange Grieving Process”: Outlander Star Sophie Skelton Says She Couldn’t Stop Sobbing While Filming Season 8 Sophie Skelton was acting but the emotions became overwhelming as she found herself unable to hold back tears on set. “Even now I’m getting goosebumps,” she admitted in a recent interview. According to the actress, filming Outlander brought her one of the deepest and most lingering sadnesses of her life, turning the set into an unexpectedly emotional space she will never forget. Watch every detail of the scene that left her unable to hold back tears below
One of the stars of Outlander has detailed how they went through a “grieving” process during filming on the eighth and final season of the epic historical drama, not longer after a teaser trailer was released and fans were intrigued by a mystery voice.
Sophie Skelton, known to Outlander fans as Brianna MacKenzie, opened up about working on the last series and saying goodbye to the programme, which she’s worked on for a decade.
In an exclusive interview with Reach Screen Time, the 31-year-old English actress said: “Caitríona [Balfe] and I talked about it lot. We both went through it in various phases of grieving.
“We came and went in very funny orders and I think we ended it on a high but I think season eight was great to film because it made us all just reflect a lot and it was beautiful.”
Skelton, whose credits also include Blackbird and Netflix’s Castlevania: Nocturne, recalled how she was left crying uncontrollably during a poignant moment on the shoot.
Outlander’s Sophie Skelton was left in tears during filming on season 8(Image: STARZ)
She said: “ One of the scenes I was actually most upset was when they were wrapping [Lizzie Wemyss star] Caitlin [O’Ryan] because Caitlin and I are friends and I thought, ‘It’s fine, I’ll see her in real life.’ And so I didn’t really think I’d feel the way I did.
“As soon as we finished the scene and they said, ‘That’s a picture wrap for Caitlin on Outlander,’ even now I’m getting goosebumps, I just burst into tears and Caitlin and I just hugged each other and we couldn’t stop sobbing.”
Skelton went on to detail how she was hit by the enormity of moving back home to England and leaving behind all her Outlander colleagues in Scotland: “It was a really hard state of grieving actually because I lost the country I was living in, I lost the people, family friends, the co-workers and I lost the job.”
Although Skelton is now looking towards the future, she conceded that it was a “really strange grieving process”.
Sophie Skelton has worked on Outlander for a decade (Image: STARZ)
Since finishing up on Outlander last year, Skelton has been busy on various other projects, including the Raindance-winning psychological thriller Row.
The actress plays a “hippie dippy” sailor on a transatlantic rowing challenges to break the world record, only for the voyage to end in tragedy and one sole survivor trying to piece together events leading to her crew mates’ deaths.
Row also stars Nine Perfect Strangers actress Bella Dayne and Akshay Khanna from Murderbot.
Outlander’s Sophie Skelton admitted she was left grieving after finishing the series (Image: GETTY)
Skelton and the rest of the cast had to learn how to row and were filming for the entire shoot on a tiny boat on frequently choppy waters in over 70mph winds, with the role being worlds away from Brianna and Outlander.
She is now focusing on other projects after recently completing work on the I Can Only Imagine sequel alongside Dennis Quaid and Milo Ventimiglia.