Blood of My Blood’ star Rory Alexander on boar’s tusk moment

This article contain’s spoilers about Outlander: Blood of My Blood season 1, episode 2, “Providence.”

Outlander fans know Jamie’s (Sam Heughan) honorary uncle Murtagh Fitzgibbons as a deeply loyal — if also inherently sad — man (with perhaps a penchant for too much liquor).

But the young Murtagh that audiences met in Friday night’s premiere of prequel series Outlander: Blood of My Blood is a very different person indeed — a vibrant young man who chases skirts and joins in the carousing of the Mackenzie gathering, while enjoying a close friendship with his cousin Brian Fraser (Jamie Roy).

One thing that is still true, however, is Murtagh’s connection to Jocasta (Sadhbh Malin). When we meet this earlier version Jocasta, she’s not yet blind, but she is already married. That doesn’t stop her from making eyes at Murtagh from the first moment she sees him, though, even if he is already mooning over Ellen (Harriet Slater).

Rory Alexander, who plays the younger Murtagh, says it’s a difficult dance for his character, acknowledging Jocasta’s flirtations while focusing his attention on Ellen. “Every now and again, he catches her eye and goes, ‘Oh, you’re looking at me,'” he tells Entertainment Weekly. “But he’s consistently staring off into the distance to see where Ellen is.

“There comes a point where Jocasta and him have a face-off and he can’t avoid her,” he continues. “But his feelings for Ellen never quite disappear, even in the face of Jocasta.”

That’s extremely evident in a key scene in the premiere during which Jocasta approaches Murtagh after he has come back victorious from the Tinchel, having killed a wild boar. This triumph is a key part of Murtagh’s mythology for fans of Diana Gabaldon’s novels, though it’s not shown on screen.

Alexander admits he was a bit disappointed he didn’t get to take down the boar on camera.

“They said that the CGI might be too difficult,” he explains, adding with a laugh, “So I think the only other alternative was to actually fight a boar, which I’m not trained in, personally.”

After his success, Jocasta comes to him as he washes the boar’s blood from his hands, mistaking the blood for his own (or perhaps just using it as a way to start a conversation). Murtagh doesn’t rebuff her, but he’s not overly friendly either. While their flirtation may be foreshadowing the relationship they’ll have later in life, this scene has an even more potent Easter egg for Outlander fans.

In the novels, Murtagh famously carves Ellen Mackenzie a bracelet from the tusks of this boar he kills, eventually swearing fealty to her with it. Claire (Caitriona Balfe) ends up inheriting this bracelet, which comes into play in season 1 of Outlander.

Alexander teases that the tusks will resurface later this season. “It’s such a gorgeous little gift,” he muses. “At the time of filming, they still have the boar’s blood on them, so you have to wash them and clean them. But once they get wrapped up, there’s a theme of a love token that goes through the show.”

Sign up for Entertainment Weekly‘s free daily newsletter to get breaking TV news, exclusive first looks, recaps, reviews, interviews with your favorite stars, and more.

What, we wonder, will Brian think of that?

Outlander: Blood of My Blood drops new episodes at 8 p.m. on Fridays on Starz and episodes are available to stream on the Starz app the same day.