Sam Heughan on starring in Outlander, Batman and Macbeth

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Sam Heughan

For more than a decade, Scottish actor Sam Heughan’s life was swallowed up by his role as dashing Highlander Jamie Fraser in the popular historical fantasy series Outlander. The final series is set to be released in early 2026, but filming finished late last year, and Heughan is now free to pursue other projects, including his first love, theatre.

“It was very bittersweet,” Heughan says of Outlander’s conclusion. “I’d spent 11 years with the same people. We’re very close, and it is hard to leave something like that. It was time, though. I wouldn’t say I was burned out at all, but I was ready for a change.”

Heughan was born in Dumfries and Galloway in 1980, then moved to Edinburgh as a teenager, where he joined the Royal Lyceum Theatre’s youth theatre. He went on to train at the Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama (now the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland), landing his first professional theatre role in David Greig’s Outlying Islands before he graduated in 2003. Throughout the first decade of his career, Heughan appeared regularly on stage in Scotland and in the remarkable role of Bruce Wayne in the world tour of arena show Batman Live, before Outlander took over his life in 2014.

‘I’d spent 11 years with the same people. We’re very close, and it is hard to leave something like that. It was time, though’

He has been busy since he finished filming the series. His drinks company, Sassenach Spirits, has opened a distillery in Galloway. He has published a book, The Cocktail Diaries. Heughan even found time to make it to the base camp of Mount Everest.

“That was amazing,” Heughan says. “We did a route that hasn’t been done before. We spent two-and-a-half weeks hiking up through a valley, then through the Amphu Labtsa pass, which is about 20,000ft. Then we had to abseil down about 2,000ft, then climb for another day and a half. It was an incredible experience. Really special.”

Now, Heughan is returning to the stage for the first time in 13 years, playing Macbeth in Daniel Raggett’s intimate staging for the Royal Shakespeare Company. When asked why, he quotes mountaineer George Mallory’s famous reason for climbing Everest: “Because it’s there.”

“Macbeth is its own Everest,” he says. “Why wouldn’t I want to do it now? Why not?”

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What production made you fall in love with theatre?

As a teenager in Edinburgh, I would go to the Lyceum a lot. I remember seeing a show called Merlin by Tankred Dorst, adapted by Tom McGrath. It was a modern-day retelling of the Arthurian legends. It had all these kings and warriors, and it was really powerful.

What are you finding inspiring at the moment?

When I was talking to the RSC about doing Macbeth, I came up here to see a few productions. I loved Daniel Evans in Edward II. I thought it was so clear and powerful. The hair on the back of my neck stood up as the lights went down. I hadn’t felt that feeling in a decade or more. That really excited me.

What role do you really want to play?

I’d quite like to do a Restoration comedy, because they are so vile and sharp-witted. I’d love to work on some new writing, too. That’s how I started under Philip Howard at the Traverse Theatre, and I really enjoyed it.

What do you wish you could change about the performing arts industry?

I wish there was more money. So much money is spent on film and television, and yet cinemas are empty, whereas so little is spent on theatre, yet the auditoriums are packed.

I also wish we could take these productions to other parts of the country. I would love to take this production of Macbeth to the Citizens Theatre in Glasgow, for example.

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