‘Outlander’ star Sam Heughan says spanking scene was ‘important’ to shoot

TORONTO – The hit time-travel romance “Outlander” returns to Showcase on Sunday with a controversial spanking scene that star Sam Heughan admits he and cast mate Caitriona Balfe were “unsure” about shooting.

Balfe stars as Claire Randall, a married British army nurse from 1945 who inadvertently gets sent back in time to 1743. She is forced to marry Scottish warrior Jamie (Heughan) and the two get swept up in a passionate but complicated love affair.

Fans of Diana Gabaldon’s bestselling “Outlander” novels, which inspired the show, have been buzzing about how Sunday’s mid-season return will portray the pivotal spanking scene.

In it, Jamie tries to whip Claire on her buttocks with a belt to punish her for being defiant.

Heughan admits his initial reaction upon reading it was: “Wow, is this really something we’re going to have to do?”

“And then you look at it and you go, ‘Yes, it’s really important,’” he says.

“He’s a man of the time. That’s how he’s been brought up: He needs to teach her a lesson, she needs to learn a big lesson. She almost got people killed, she’s put everyone in danger and therefore it’s important that she learns a lesson.”

In the end, it turns into “a really positive moment,” adds Heughan, 34.

“Whether or not he wholly believes it’s the right thing to do, it’s what he has to do, it’s his duty as a man. And actually what it does is that there’s a big fallout from that moment and they learn a lot about each other and about their relationship and it actually moves them forward in their relationship.”

The series, which is executive produced by Ronald D. Moore (“Battlestar Galactica,” “Star Trek: The Next Generation”), debuted last August and ran for eight episodes before taking a break.

Scottish-born Heughan, who was nominated for a Laurence Olivier Award in 2003 for his role in the play “Outlying Islands,” says he was drawn to “Outlander” because he liked that it had a strong female character and Moore at the helm.

“And then the opportunity to play a character like this, I’d jump at it,” he adds. “Swords and horses — brilliant.”

The show sticks closely to Gabaldon’s book series. Heughan says he read the first novel several times before shooting season 1 and then referenced it while filming.

He also works with a Scottish dialect coach and a Gaelic tutor.

Heughan is now reading the second book and preparing to shoot season 2 next month.

“I received the first two episodes for season 2, so I was speed-reading it just now on lunch break going, ‘Wow, what happens?’” he says with a big smile. “It was really exciting.”

“Outlander” airs at 10pm ET/PT.