Charles Vandervaart Calls Out William’s ‘Unforgivable’ Actions in Outlander Season 7 Episode 12

‘Outlander’ is currently airing part 2 of its second season. This week’s ‘Outlander’ episode shifted focus, leaving out Roger and Bree to dive into the drama with Jamie and Claire. William Ransom took center stage after overhearing the shocking truth that Jamie is his father.

Titled “Carnal Knowledge,” the episode explored revelations that can’t be undone, with characters reacting in very different ways to the truth. After Jamie flees with John to evade the Redcoats, Claire is left at the Grey house with William, who is struggling with the truth about his Scottish heritage. He questions Claire about his conception, but her knowledge is limited to what Jamie told her. Overcome with anger, William smashes vases, mirrors, and even a chandelier before storming out, showing his hot temper in a dramatic outburst.

He further proceeded to mistreat a kind prostitute and forced a kiss on Rachel after discovering she was engaged to Young Ian, whom he also had arrested. Actor Charles Vandervaart openly acknowledged the seriousness of his character’s actions.

Hurt people hurt people, and that’s what happens in this episode. William’s a hurt person, and he hurts people, kind of irredeemably. There’s not really an excuse for what he’s doing. There’s an explanation, for sure, but he’s going to have to do a lot to make it up to those people in this episode.

Vandervaart acknowledged that William’s actions in episode 12 are unforgivable, calling him “irredeemably” wrong. While some may empathize with him as a broken character, Vandervaart believes William acts impulsively and selfishly. He also noted that, although people see the good in William because he’s Jamie Fraser’s son, he also has a darker side, influenced by both his parents.

A little while ago, we were going around, and the cast was asking about villains and what villain is their favorite. And I remember Izzy [Meikle-Small] said William Ransom. And you never really think of him as a villain, but in this specific episode, absolutely he is. He does horrible, horrible things, things that are unforgivable.

It’s an interesting thing, because sometimes you empathize with him, because he is just this broken kid, essentially, that’s acting out of impulse. I think he gets away with it a lot because he’s Jamie Fraser’s son, because everyone sees the good in him. Everyone sees the Jamie Fraser in him, but he is as much of his dad as he is his mom. I think there’s some darkness there, and you can see that in this episode. He’s acting selfishly.

The actor lastly attributes his outburst to the loss of his character’s identity:

That’s most of what I’m talking about. That’s probably William’s low point, I’m imagining. I hope it’s William’s low point. I hope it doesn’t get worse than that. I think his identity was completely shattered in front of him. He’s not the Ninth Earl of Ellesmere.

At least, he’s not the rightful heir of that title, and I think he tied maybe a part of his identity to Rachel, and that was maybe something he was just holding on to after losing everything else. And you could see him act in a very, very bad, borderline unforgivable way after finding out that he wasn’t really the third part of that love triangle. He was just like an extra, spare part.

He also compared William’s role in the love triangle to being a “small tricycle wheel,” feeling insignificant and mistaken about his place in the relationship. Vandervaart added that William’s anger also stems from his discovery that Young Ian, his cousin, symbolizes the family tie to Jamie, something William rejects, leading to layers of self-hatred.

He humorously suggested William might need therapy to cope with his emotions.

He’s not the third wheel. He’s the small tricycle wheel that’s not even touching the ground, that’s barely important. He really thought he was the main man, but oh well. He’ll find love hopefully, or at least learn to love himself.

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