Spoiler alert: Don’t read until you’ve seen Outlander Season 6 Episode 6 entitled The World Turned Upside Down.
Characters in Outlander have died in all sorts of ways, some absolutely heartbreaking and others highly anticipated. Starz’s historical drama has just crafted a new but effective cast member when Jessica Reynolds’ Malva Christie is found dead by Claire (Caitríona Balfe) just outside her Fraser’s Ridge home.
The circumstances of Malva’s death are mysterious and are sure to cast a dark cloud over the Ridge. On Sunday’s episode, Malva revealed she was pregnant and claimed Jamie (Sam Heughan) was the father. Despite Jamie and Claire’s attempts to dispel the scandalous allegation, a rumor-based rebellion begins to build up around them at the Ridge.
In an attempt to clear her mind about Malva’s allegations and Ridge’s turn on her family, Claire uses ether to put herself into a deep sleep. Just before she does, she looks outside and spots Malva walking towards the house. Claire locks the door to her operating room before taking the ether and is soon haunted by images of Malva saying that she and Jamie are meant to be together. When Claire wakes up, she finds Malva dead, her throat cut in the yard just outside her house.
Reynolds spoke to Variety to discuss her character’s shocking death and what she enjoyed playing the enthusiastic and enigmatic Malva.
What was your reaction when you found out how Malva would die this season? Did you know from the script or did you know about her death from the books?
When I first auditioned for Malva, I had these pages. I think when I first auditioned it didn’t even say Sam and Claire, it had different names. I think they were trying to hide that it was Outlander, which was so funny. It was really nice, the pretense that they wrote about what Malva was trying to do in the scene. So I already knew this was a juicy character. One of the scenes was the accusation scene that we just saw in Episode 6. So I knew some dark things were going to happen. It wasn’t until I got the part and started reading the book that I realized, oh my god, this is the worst character circumstance of any person I’ve ever met. I just thought I couldn’t imagine anything worse happening to me. It’s a Greek tragedy.
Malva’s time on Outlander was short-lived, but she made an impression nonetheless. How do you feel about her overall story arc for this season?
As you say, it was so short but so impactful. It gave me the perfect amount of time to have this bow. In every episode we peel back a layer. When things get going, she is inquisitive and a great philanthropist. I think she’s trying to be as authentic as possible. You know, there’s a lot of debate about whether everything she does is calculated and manipulative. I personally don’t believe in it at all. I think she’s so young and she’s just doing what she thinks is best at the moment. There’s actually a certain point with Malva where she starts to really act and start acting out these horrific acts. That’s because of her circumstances. The way they wrote it was brilliant. It gave me such a clear structure of, okay, that’s what she’s going through and that’s why she’s acting that way.
Malva has become quite close to Claire this season – as Bree even jokes in this episode, Malva has been “glued” to Claire since she started as her apprentice. What is your experience with Caitríona?
I think what’s great about Caitríona is that she’s so present. I think that’s what I learned the most on set. She can be the funny Caitríona and then bam, switch to Claire. I think when I got on the set of such a big machine and with such brilliant actors and someone like Caitríona, there was this admiration as me, as Jess, the actor, that Malva has for Claire as well. It was a parallel and made it easy to act out scenes like that. I don’t think we’ve even talked before. When I think about what we did in those scenes, the kind of chemistry and what the dynamic was, it was just there.
This episode features two intense scenes between Claire and Malva. First, when Malva claims Jamie is the father of her child and the two are having an affair while Claire was ill. The second when Claire gives Malva a chance to tell her side of the story and Malva goes on to claim that Claire is a witch. Which of these was the biggest challenge for you?
The accusation scene was obviously a big one. That was my casting scene. I thought we’d build on that. It’s also so central to the book. We spent a long day doing this scene and it was like a six-pager, which is pretty long for TV. it was brilliant I have so much to say in it too. For me there is a lot of text. It almost felt like theater that day because it was such a long thing and so many dynamics. There’s Sam and Cat and Mark [Lewis Jones] and Alex [Vlahos] collide with each other. It was great to do it. When I watched it you could see Malva obviously executing the plan that was laid out for her, this calculating thing, and she’s crying and getting angry. There’s also this parallel, you kind of see that she’s doing fine — I saw that anyway — that she’s so sorry she has to do it. As in tears, she’s sorry for doing this to Claire, but she has to do it. And it was really hard to film in the beginning because she’s devastated and there’s this mix of manipulation but also fear. There’s so much going on. So it was tough. But to be honest, at the end of the day we were all curled up and laughing and I thought I can’t do this scene anymore.
How do you think Malva’s death will affect everyone at Fraser’s Ridge, especially Claire?
It’s a really interesting thing that the Protestant community comes to Ridge and they put all that blame and all that superstition and witchcraft ideology back on Claire, even though she got over that in Season 1. It will affect you greatly. But then there’s this personal aspect for Claire. She loved Malva. Maybe she’s thinking why couldn’t she have done more? I think it’s going to be tough. It’s interesting to see how many fans say, “Why can’t Claire see that she’s evil and manipulative?” There are many sides to Malva, and ultimately I think she’s a victim. I think Claire also sees Malva as a victim when things were revealed. Also, it’s trauma after trauma for Claire, right? She’s processing last season’s rape and then Malva distracts her. She has a lot of things to look forward to. And now it’s another blow. How much trauma can you take?
And for Malva herself, it’s a sad ending for a promising character. Her story appeals to many women of the time when curiosity and intellect were disdained.
I agree. She could have gone either way. I think that’s such an interesting point about someone who’s just interested and excited and everything is shunned. When they first see Malva, many people find her so intense. She’s intense and she’s a little damaged, even from the start, before she gets pregnant. But for me I see it as an interest, as an eagerness to learn. You can decide whether you think it’s always real or not. I really do believe and see a young girl who wants a better life, who wants to break free, who wants to escape and get somewhere close to the heights that Claire has reached. Unfortunately, that’s not the way it ends up.
What did you enjoy most about getting on the show and taking on this character?
It’s the fans – and of course the production was incredible. And with a character like that, I feel so blessed and fortunate to play someone so interesting. I don’t think that happens often. Outlander is great with these complex, paradoxical, intense women. It’s such an honor to do that, especially in a period piece. But besides that, the fans were just so cool and so passionate. I understand that feeling of being a part of something and that escapism you can get from watching TV that you really love. I love to see them hit Malva and then kind of feel sorry for her. It’s great to see how they digest and interpret my work.
This interview has been edited and abridged.
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