Outlander: Blood of My Blood premiered on Starz last week, introducing Outlander fans to the younger versions of some of their favorite characters. Maybe the most endearing of these reinterpretations is Rory Alexander‘s take on the young Murtagh Fitzgibbons Fraser.

The Murtagh we met all the way back in Outlander Season 1 was played by Duncan Lacroix as caring, loyal, and brave, but also incredibly cynical and sometimes hilariously cranky. He was a man who had been hardened by heartache and forged in brutal times. Murtagh was also Jamie’s (Sam Heughan) beloved godfather, juggling the roles mentor, protector, and best friend to the romantic hero.

Outlander: Blood of My Blood executive producer Maril Davis told DECIDER that when she and series creator Matthew B. Roberts were casting the prequel, he had to keep reminding her that they weren’t casting that version of Murtagh Fitzgibbons Fraser.

“Matt kept reminding me that we’re not casting Duncan Lacroix. Like, we’re not casting that kind of cantankerous, hardened version that we’ve seen in Outlander,” Davis said. “We actually want to start him off in a very hopeful place: the young, kind of hopeful Murtagh.”

“So when I saw Rory had such a twinkle in his eyes, and I mean, he just makes me laugh. He just there’s so much possibility,” she said.

When we first meet Rory Alexander’s version of Murtagh in Outlander: Blood of My Blood Episode 1, he is playfully trying to convince his cousin and best friend Brian Fraser (Jamie Roy) to come to a Gathering at Castle Leoch with him. Murtagh wants his buddy’s support as he tries to summon the courage to approach his crush, Ellen MacKenzie (Harriet Slater).

What Outlander fans know though, that these characters don’t, is that Brian and Ellen are destined to be together. Jamie Fraser is their son and Murtagh will eventually, after many decades of pining for Ellen, finally find love with her sister Jocasta (Maria Doyle Kennedy) in America.

DECIDER recently spoke with Rory Alexander about why he’s putting off watching Lacroix’s take on Murtagh, what he’s playing at with young Jocasta (Sadhbh Malin) and her feelings, and whether or not we might see the iconic boar tusk bracelets Claire (Caitriona Balfe) learns about in Outlander Season 1…

DECIDER: The first two episodes of Outlander: Blood of My Blood came out this past weekend, so there’s been some initial fan reaction. What is your initial reaction to the initial fan reaction? I’m just curious how you’re feeling after the debut weekend.

RORY ALEXANDER: I mean, to be honest, we’ve been straight back into work. So there hasn’t been this like cataclysmic thing, which I think is probably a good thing. I’m sort of waiting for people to… I’d quite like to see a sort of Brian and Murtagh mash up where it’s like our own little romance. I haven’t seen it yet, which, to be honest, I’m slightly disappointed by. But no, generally speaking, lots of lovely messages, mainly from like friends and family who have watched it. Yeah. I think it will just sort of slowly accumulate as these things do. But I haven’t I haven’t had any negativity yet.

Murtagh is one of my favorite characters from the original series. You’re playing a very different version of Murtagh than we’re used to seeing. You’re younger, you’re more hopeful, optimistic. When I was on the set visit last summer, you told another reporter that you hadn’t watched any of Duncan Lacroix’s performance. Has that changed? Have you compared and contrasted the two Murtaghs going into this new season?

So that hasn’t changed. Actually, I’ve watched a lot of Outlander. I just was skipping Duncan’s stuff. I think I’m going to let myself finally watch him at the end of this season. Because I think it’s important to just make sure that there’s a bit of breathing space in between the two. And I don’t want to be on set now, kind of going, “Oh, I remember. You know, he used to do this. So I’m going to do I’m going to do that.” Which might not be completely true to what I did on on screen for the last season. So, yeah, I’m kind of reserving it as a little bit of a treat for myself.

But in terms of building the character, I mean, you know, first and foremost here, you have the scripts that we have. Then, you’ve also got how he appears in the book and sort of in between those two things, you can very much — and a little bit of yourself, too. You kind of combine those things to get a full person really. And then, you know, every time you get a new script or every time you get to watch an episode back, you pick up new information. So you’re just constantly world-building and letting this character grow as various unfortunate things happen to them.

You mentioned how you really want to see some Brian/Murtagh mash ups. I find their friendship to be so sweet and so loving because they’re cousins, but they’re almost like brothers. Can you take me through what that relationship in your head means to Murtaugh? How long do you think they’ve known each other? And what’s it been like working with Jamie?

How long have they known each other? They’ve always sort of surrounded one another. I can’t quite say specifically to you what happens to Murtagh’s family, because that’s something that will be going to be discussed at a later date. But definitely you can see from the way that they have formed their friendship that it’s kind of this late teen, very much they’re still boys. Now that they’re on the cusp of manhood, they’re transferring that kind of boyhood friendship into the harsh realities of the adult world.

And Jamie, he’s the best. He’s so fun to work with. We talk right up until the director says, “Action.” We’ve got several running jokes that we just run and run and run. Sometimes to the point you’re still kind of smiling as the scene starts. You have to kind of wind it back down again. So we do have a lot of fun. But also, I mean, he’s a brilliant actor. He takes it very serious, which is different to taking himself seriously. It just means that whatever kind of day you’re having, you look across and you see someone who massively cares and is pouring their heart and soul into it. You’ve got no option but to do exactly the same thing. So yeah, I’m always grateful to get to work with him.

One of the first things we learn about Murtgah is that he was massively in love with Jamie’s mother, Ellen, and it was an unrequited love. We get that introduced in the very first episode. We hear that he just looks at her from afar. Is he entranced by her beauty? Does he intuit anything about her spirit? I’m curious what you think her hold on him is.

It’s a good question. It’s kind of all of those. I mean, obviously she’s gorgeous, but also people know things about MacKenzie family and they know that like she is Red Jacob’s favorite. So it creates some level of mystique around her. She’s also kind of an important fantasy, I think, for Murtagh. She might always be unattainable given his situation and hers. And there’s something about that kind of impossible love, particularly earlier when we talking about that late teenage thing. Really reaching for something that you can’t quite have is very much involved in that teenage daydream.

But I think in terms of, you know, real love, the love kind of transforms from a sort of distant infatuation into something very different, which is related, I think, to Brian and to the relationship that the three of them end up having. So it is unrequited, romantically, but there’s definitely a sense in which Ellen massively understands his importance and importance to Brian, to her, to the family that might come. So, yeah, I like to think about it that at different phases of Murtagh’s life, the love that he has for Ellen, that she has for him, it never goes away. It just transforms.

We also get to see Jocasta and Murtagh interact in the first episode, in which he kind of gives her a sliver of hope. I’m curious if he’s aware that she has a crush on him in any part of his brain? Is he aware that he’s maybe, to the audience, leading this this girl on? I’m just curious what, at least in episode one, how he sees Jocasta.

I think it’s a little bit of both of those things. I mean, he really does have eyes for Ellen, but then, you know, she makes a beeline for him and he suddenly clocks that he’s receiving attention. Despite his feelings for Ellen, he’s also got really this beautiful woman standing in front of him, clearly showing some interest. And he’s only human, which isn’t necessarily the greatest quality in him. I don’t know if he’s necessarily acting with valor. But also there’s a degree, you know, she’s married. She knows what she’s doing. There’s kind of room for both of them to enjoy this with each other without too many boundaries being crossed.

In Episode 1, I think I missed it the first time I watched it, but we do see the origin of the boar tusk bracelets that we later know about in Outlander. Can you tease will we have any answers or more allusions to those in the first season or…?

They… Yeah, they may. They may well pop back up.

Okay.

They might not.

They might not.

But they may. They feel like quite an important little symbol of things, but, I mean, you never know what they do in the edit.

This interview has been edited and formatted for clarity.