Outlander Season 7: Fans’ Brutal Opinion of New Jenny Actress Kristin Atherton Will Be a Tough Pill To Swallow For Showrunners

SUMMARY

• Laura Donnelly exited Outlander due to her commitments to other shows.
• For season 7, the showrunners resorted to Kristin Atherton to bring Jenny back into the mix.
• Some fans haven't been thrilled about this recasting.

Ahead of season 7 part 2’s premiere, it was revealed that several major characters from the past seasons were set to return in Outlander, including Jenny Murray, who was last seen in season 3. Part of the reason behind the Lallybroch matriarch’s prolonged absence was Laura Donnelly’s commitment to other projects, including HBO’s The Nevers and multiple Broadway shows.

Outlander | Credit: STARZ

As for her replacement, Kristin Atherton, who was originally in the run for the character prior to Donnelly’s casting, hasn’t quite cut it as Jenny for some fans.

Kristin Atherton doesn’t cut it as Jenny for some viewers

Outlander | Credit: STARZ

Recastings are never easy, as they can easily break the viewers’ immersion. Moreover, given how impeccably Laura Donnelly played Jenny in the first three seasons of Outlander, filling her shoes was always going to be a huge ask for Kristin Atherton, who has previously worked on Waterloo Road and Doctors.

Although Atherton did prove to be a great successor to Donnelly for many, some viewers couldn’t connect with the returning Jenny, which had more to do with Donnelly’s absence than Atherton’s acting chops.

To Atherton’s credit, instead of replicating what made the previous version such a hit among fans, the actress successfully branched a connection between an older Jenny and her predecessor’s performance, which felt natural.

Outlander leads’ confessed to getting emotional over the show’s impending end

Outlander | Credit: STARZ

With one more season to go before Outlander finally concludes, series lead Caitriona Balfe and Sam Heughan recalled tearing up during the production process of the final season. While the last day on set was reasonably emotional for everyone, per Balfe, the lead-up to it was the hardest, at least for her, as he added (via Collider): “There was a lot of ugly crying on my behalf”.

Similar was the case for Heughan, who confessed to crying during the final read-through, adding:

The last day was emotional, but so were the weeks, even months, beforehand. Sometimes there were things happening or emotions where I’d be like, ‘Where is this coming from? What is this?’ And you’d realize, ‘Oh, my God, it’s because we’re doing the last season.’ There were days like when we did the last final read-through where I was crying,

On the flip side, Heughan expressed that he soon made peace with it, and hopefully, the series will conclude its acclaimed run on a high note.

Outlander is available to stream on Netflix.

Written by Santanu Roy

Articles Published: 2002

Santanu Roy is a film enthusiast with a deep love for the medium of animation while also being obsessed with The Everly Brothers, Billy Joel, and The Platters. Having expertise in everything related to Batman, Santanu spends most of his time watching and learning films, with Martin Scorsese and Park Chan-wook being his personal favorites. Apart from pursuing a degree in animation, he also possesses a deep fondness for narrative-driven games and is currently a writer at Fandomwire with over 1500 articles.