OUTLANDER Announces Cast Addition for Season 2
STARZ has announced that Scottish actor Richard Rankin has been cast in the role of Roger Wakefield in Season Two of Outlander, the award-winning and critically acclaimed series adapted from Diana Gabaldon’s international best-selling books, and executive produced by Ronald D. Moore (Battlestar Galactica, Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, Star Trek: The Next Generation).
Let’s face it guys, you really can’t go wrong with that pedigree.
Rankin’s character Roger is the grown-up version of Reverend Wakefield’s adopted son from Season One. After his parents died in World War II, Roger was raised by the Reverend (with help from his housekeeper, Mrs. Graham). Now a professor at Oxford, Roger has a keen interest in history and all its secrets.
Scottish-born actor Richard Rankin is fast becoming familiar to global audiences after landing visible roles in Hollywood backed films, high profile British television, and a fair amount of stage work. Rankin recently starred opposite Bradley Cooper, Uma Thurman and Sienna Miller in John Wells’ Burnt. He has also received praise for his work in high profile television shows including the BBC drama The Syndicate; The Crimson Field, the BBC-backed big budget World War 1 set mini-series; and NBC’s American Odyssey.
Rankin first attracted attention playing various roles in three seasons of the comedy sketch show hit Burnistoun, set in a fictional Scottish town outside Glasgow. He has performed on stage with roles in the Laurence Olivier award-winning play “Black Watch” and George Perrin’s “Good With People.” Most recently Rankin appeared in the BBC One drama From Darkness with Anne-Marie Duff, and he will next be seen playing a detective in Thirteen, a new original drama TV miniseries written by Marnie Dickens for the BBC.
As Outlander devotees will recall, the second season of the show is set to begin as Claire and Jamie arrive in France, intent on infiltrating the Jacobite rebellion led by Prince Charles Stuart, and stopping the battle of Culloden. With the help of his cousin Jared, a local wine merchant, Jamie and Claire are thrown into the lavish world of French society, where intrigue and parties are abundant, but political gain proves far less fruitful. Altering the course of history presents challenges that begin to weigh on their relationship. However, armed with the knowledge of what lies ahead, Claire and Jamie race to prevent a doomed Highland uprising and the extinction of Scottish life as they know it.
The second season of Outlander is currently filming on location in Scotland and will return in the spring of 2016.
