‘Outlander’ Star David Berry Reveals Lord John Grey’s Season 7 Agenda & Hopes for Spinoff

British Army officer and diplomat Lord John Grey (David Berry) sports an eye patch in the seventh installment of Outlander. It’s not a fashion statement. It’s the result of almost losing his eye after a brutal beating. How he gets that injury, who inflicts it and why are threads that run into the final season. When Berry first heard about the shocking event that sparks the attack on Lord John, he was excited. “This is the kind of challenge that any actor would love,” he says. “It’s dangerous, and you want to do dangerous stuff that pushes audiences and yourself. I relished that opportunity to upset people.”

It’s not the first time the Australian- Canadian actor’s character has drawn ire. Berry joined the time-travel romance in 2017 for the third season.

(A teenage Lord John, played by Oscar Kennedy, first met Caitríona Balfe and Sam Heughan’s Claire and Jamie in Season 2.) Lord John was warden of Ardsmuir Prison, where incarcerated Jamie served as the de facto leader of the prisoners, fighters in the failed Jacobite Rebellion. The Highlander had regular meetings with Lord John, who made a romantic advance toward him, which Jamie angrily spurned.

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Since, they’ve shared a history of debts paid and owed, favors done and sins forgiven. Their biggest bond was formed when John agreed to raise Jamie’s illegitimate son William as his own. Jamie offered his body in gratitude, but John turned him down.

They’ve crossed paths many times and in many places. As a governor in Jamaica, John saved Jamie from arrest by the British. On Fraser’s Ridge, Claire saved John, nursing him through measles. John offered to marry Brianna Fraser (Sophie Skelton) to save her from a siege of suitors. And so on.

Berry asserts that in the second half of Season 7, Lord John “has a very pragmatic agenda, which is to safeguard the Frasers.”

And his hopes of a romantic relationship with Jamie have long passed. “I don’t think he’s really thinking at this point in the relationship that they’re ever going to be together,” Berry says. “He’s come to terms with that. Jamie will never be his.”

But the adoptive father’s relationship with son William (Charles Vandervaart), who does not know (yet!) that Jamie is his birth father, is tested before the end of Season 7. A brave move on the older man’s part restores the youth’s respect. “I think that the relationship again is made very strong,” Berry says. “If anything, [the second half of Season 7] will show us a new side of Lord John. He is not just Jamie’s lapdog. He has his own thoughts, opinions, and love. He’s his own man.” By Season 8, Lord John will find himself in a new city, living in luxury. William will still be at this side.

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But the series finale of Outlander may not be the last time we see the handsome officer. There’s always the opportunity for a spinoff. Author Diana Gabaldon has written a series of historical mysteries centered on Lord John that take place during the events of her Outlander novel Voyager. The stories begin in 1756, when Lord John stumbles across the Hellfire Club, an underground London society obsessed with the supernatural. In the first few tales alone, he vows to avenge a murder, investigates a witchy “night hag” on the European battlefields, and discovers treason in His Majesty’s ranks. Sounds like plenty of material!

“A Lord John series has been thrown around for a while. If it came and I could continue the character, I’d for sure relish that opportunity,” Berry says. “There’s more story to be told and there’s extra dimensions to the character. To see Lord John as his own agent, his own man [this season], maybe that will allow audiences to see him in his own spinoff.” More from the Outlander-verse? Lord, yes.

This is an excerpt from TV Guide Magazine’s Outlander: Claire & Jamie’s Love Story For The Ages issue. For a deep-dive into the historical romance, scoop on the second half of Season 7, and details on the upcoming prequel, pick up a copy of the issue available on newsstands and for order online at Outlander2024.com.

Outlander, Season 7, Part 2, Fridays, 8/7c, Starz (Midnight on the Starz App and On Demand)