Spoilers forward for Episode 4 of Outlander: Blood of My Blood, known as “A Soldier’s Coronary heart” and out there streaming now on the Starz app and with a Hulu subscription together with the Starz add-on.
Outlander: Blood of My Blood leaned again extra into the sophisticated time journey within the newest episode of the 2025 TV schedule, with Henry flashing again to his life with Julia in twentieth century London when she was pregnant with Claire. Not all was effectively with them, nonetheless, as Henry was scuffling with post-traumatic stress from his time in World Conflict I. All in all, “A Soldier’s Coronary heart” felt extra like an early episode of Outlander than every other Blood of My Blood episode so far, however the dedication card on the very finish is an indication that adjustments are on the way in which.
Actor Brian McCardie handed away whereas filming Season 1, and the showrunner has since shared how the collection is dealing with his passing.
The Tribute To Brian McCardie
Brian McCardie had been solid in Outlander: Blood of My Blood as Laird Isaac Grant, the chief who recruited Henry to be his bladier however had a ruthless streak that meant the time traveler was by no means going to be protected within the family. The actor handed away on the age of 59 resulting from an aortic dissection in 2024, which his sister disclosed on X meant that he endured “quick ache and a sudden dying.”
I’d anticipated Blood of My Blood to honor him indirectly when the present premiered, however I now perceive why Episode 4 was the proper time. Right here’s the cardboard that aired proper earlier than the credit started to roll:
This adopted the extra rapid tribute shared by govt producer Maril Davis within the wake of his dying on Instagram, which she fittingly posted on behalf of each Outlander and Blood of My Blood, as he’d appeared within the authentic present as effectively. She wrote:
On behalf of the Blood of My Blood and Outlander household, we’re devastated by the information of Brian McCardie’s sudden passing. Brian was beloved on our set for his heat, kindness and great humorousness. He will probably be missed and our hearts exit to his household and everybody who knew him.
Clearly, the ruthlessness and vanity that viewers have seen in his efficiency as Laird Isaac Grant weren’t true to life, as Brian McCardie was “beloved” by the Blood of My Blood household for “heat,” “kindness,” and “humor.” I don’t assume I’m the one Blood of My Blood fan to say that the apparently beautiful actor did a unbelievable job enjoying someone so unlikable inside the Outlander world.
What Does The Future Maintain For Isaac Grant?
The Blood of My Blood producers clearly didn’t recast Laird Isaac Grant and reshoot within the wake of the actor’s dying, and I believe that “A Soldier’s Coronary heart” was the final episode that we’ll see Brian McCardie in because of the timing of the tribute. That wasn’t assured within the months main as much as the premiere, nonetheless, till showrunner Matthew B. Roberts clarified their strategy to the character following McCardie’s passing. He instructed EW:
We misplaced Brian McCardie. He is Isaac Grant and nobody may ever be Isaac Grant aside from him. We had deliberate story for him going ahead. If there’s going to be season 2, we’d’ve deliberate story for him as a result of he is simply such a robust character.
The brand new drama hadn’t but been renewed for Season 2 when Roberts addressed McCardie’s passing, though Starz would verify the renewal months earlier than the premiere. Roberts went on to say that the actor “simply introduced the extent up” in each scene that he was in, leaving anyone watching on set eager to “see extra of him.” The showrunner and producers then made the choice about how one can deal with the character after the dying of the actor, with Roberts saying:
It was a tragedy. However the one factor we wished to do after we took a beat to grieve was resolve that we need to protect his work. We do not need to recast and reshoot. We need to protect that.
Not recasting Brian McCardie honors the actor, but additionally created some challenges for the writers. As of the tip of Episode 4, it nonetheless appeared that Isaac Grant had a big position in Henry’s story. It’s completely attainable that I’m unsuitable and this wasn’t the ultimate episode he accomplished previous to his dying, however the story needed to change. Roberts defined:
We had to determine a technique to go down the highway that we wished to go down, nevertheless it was going to be a parallel highway. It wasn’t going to be the identical highway. So, we created a complete new character to tackle a few of that storyline. However it will not be the identical storyline that we have been planning.
Viewers will simply must preserve tuning in to new episodes of Outlander: Blood of My Blood on Fridays at 8 p.m. ET on Starz to see how this storyline will unfold, or stream episodes through the Starz app. Diana Gabaldon, the creator of the Outlander saga, is reportedly “on board 100%” with the spinoff, however Isaac Grant wasn’t a key character in her books like Colum, Dougal, Murtagh, and others whose youthful variations are showing in Blood of My Blood.