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Outlander is hard to imagine without Caitriona Balfe and Sam Heughan in the leading roles of Claire Fraser and Sam Heughan thanks to their electric chemistry. However, it could have all been
very different had a Hollywood star landed the role as rumours suggested. WHICH STAR ALMOST REPLACED CAITRIONA BALFE AS CLAIRE FRASER? When it came to bringing Diana Gabaldon’s much-loved
novels to the screen, there was a lot of expectation to find the perfect actors for the leading roles. Of course now it is hard to imagine anyone but Heughan and Balfe as the stars but there
were almost some other names attached. Back in 2010, the adaptation was planned as a film rather than a series which could have seen a very different star playing the heroine. At the time
it was reported the producers wanted Claire to be played by Grey’s Anatomy star Katherine Heigl. READ MORE: OUTLANDER: DIANA GABALDON REVEALS SHE DIDN’T WANT SAM HEUGHAN AS JAMIE Heigl had
just come from starring in a number of hit films, including Knocked Up, 27 Dresses and The Ugly Truth, which had made her a highly sought after actor. And according to The New York Times who
ran a profile piece on her at the time, she was seriously considering the role of Claire. In the interview she told the publication: “Scotland? 2012? What do you think?” However, the film
was then changed into a series, which was later commissioned by Starz in 2012. He said: "In the beginning, I said, 'We're going to cast Claire first because she'll be the
easiest to find, because she's a smart 20th century British woman and there are lots of them.” He continued: “It was tricky, we were really trying to find a very special quality. “I
always said that I wanted Claire to be really smart, and you had to see her thinking. “And you know she had to be this really capable interesting person and she had to marry up really well
with Sam.” Because Heughan was the first actor cast on the show to play the highlander at the centre of the drama, chemistry between the stars was very important. As a result of this, the
showrunner revealed how they watched tapes for a number of actresses, both relatively unknown and prestigious before finding Balfe. He revealed how just before production began he saw
Balfe’s self-made audition tape and they brought her in for a screen test with Heughan. He explained: “We didn’t find her until very late in the game, and she taped her own audition and sent
it in. “We just were like pretty certain from her tape that she was the one. And then when we saw the chemistry test, we were convinced.” _OUTLANDER SEASONS 1-5 ARE AVAILABLE TO STREAM ON
AMAZON’S PRIME VIDEO NOW._