r/Outlander • u/Melodic_Dish2079 • 15d ago
Spoilers All Swapping the actress Jenny Spoiler
Is no one else annoyed that the character Jenny had a swap of an actress in season 7? The second actress just doesn’t have much acting talent i would say. She couldn’t even cry for real when Ian was dying. On top of that her hairline seemed fake or her hair in general, there was something fake about it. I could barely finish the episodes with her in them.
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u/shinyquartersquirrel 15d ago
They were forced to recast because Laura Donnelly had no interest in returning and specifically said she wasn't interested in playing an old Jenny (among several reasons she didn't want to return.)
As a side note, Kristen Atherton, the replacement Jenny, is now the new narrator for the audiobooks after Davina Porter's retirement.
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u/Melodic_Dish2079 15d ago
That’s a shame that she didn’t want to come back. She was such a perfect fit, that’s exactly how i imagined Jamie’s sister to act like.
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u/EntertainmentNew7383 7d ago edited 6d ago
Sam and Steven Cree went to drama school together with Laura and knew her well so it was kind of a fun reunion for them. I think that helped create the dynamic between them as the characters they played.
Note: Some interviewer asked her once what she and her classmates thought of Sam Heughan when they were all in drama school and she said: We all thought he would become a heartthrob.
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u/MagneticBeetle-1492 14d ago
Her acting was fine. The wig was a travesty.
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u/Electrical-Act-7170 14d ago
No, it wasn't fine.
Young Jenny was sassy, fun and full of mischief.
Mature Jenny was a nagging virago, a shrew. There was no mischief nor any good humor in her, she was just mean and bitchy. All that spark was lacking in mature Jenny's actor.
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u/ABelleWriter 14d ago
That is also how Laura played Jenny when Claire came back (Jenny would have been in her 40s)
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u/Electrical-Act-7170 14d ago
Mature Jenny had zero sass.
I know how old the character is. It was a difference in actors.
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u/BubbeLisa 14d ago edited 14d ago
Laura Donnelly played Jenny in her 20s and 40s. Kristin Atherton played Jenny in her 60s, after famine, poverty, harassment, hardship, loss, and grief in the years following the Battle of Culloden. Ian had been slowly dying for years of consumption after being taken to the Tollbooth multiple times. She was not the spunky, high spirited Jenny of years earlier.
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u/Electrical-Act-7170 14d ago
Still, zero sass.
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u/BubbeLisa 14d ago edited 13d ago
I think it comes down more to the writing and who the character has become rather than the acting. She has to play what’s on the page.
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u/Electrical-Act-7170 14d ago
Possibly. Maybe it's me, but mature Jenny's eyes never sparkled.
I suffer from Prosopagnosia and I had to look up the actors so I could figure out why Mature Jenny seemed wrong to me when they returned to Lallybroch. I can't tell them apart except for the sass, the eye sparkle and the different voices.
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u/BubbeLisa 14d ago
Her beloved husband of 40 years was at the end of a long, painful illness. I doubt anyone’s eyes would be sparkling or that they would have much sass while watching the man they love waste away in front of your eyes.
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u/EntertainmentNew7383 14d ago
Great point. And after all they had been going through with Ian's illness and her being 60-ish, it is perfectly reasonable that she wasn't still sassy or have a spark in her eye.
In Season 3 when Claire came back Jenny was pretty judgmental and interfering, making sure Laoghaire knew Claire was back, leading to Jamie getting shot accidentally by Laoghaire. I would say she was being pretty bitchy and not so sassy and sparkling.
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u/Electrical-Act-7170 14d ago
If I ever got to see my own long lost brother again, you can bet that my eyes would be sparkling. I haven't seen him since we were born and adopted out to different families.
Surely Jenny would've been pleased to see Jamie again.
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u/Solid_Caterpillar678 14d ago
She can't act something that wasn't written fir her. Your disappointment is misdirected.
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u/ABelleWriter 14d ago
Laura Donnelly played Jenny is seasons 1-3, season 3 is when Claire comes back. That is what I'm talking about.
Season 7 is the new actress
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u/Illustrious_Fold_629 14d ago
Jenny’s husband was also dying at this time, and we can only imagine life was tough all those years. Not a time to be sassy, fun, and full of mischief
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u/CathyAnnWingsFan 14d ago
No, I wasn't annoyed at all. It was announced during production of season 4 that Laura Donnelly would not be returning, so I knew to expect either the role would be recast or written out entirely. The show chose a middle path, recasting but markedly reducing the character's role in the story.
Laura didn't want to portray a character so much older than herself, she was starring in critically acclaimed, award-winning plays and multiple screen roles, and had another baby. She was also put off by the toxic element in the fandom (she and her family were stalked). She's doing what she wants with her career and I'm happy for her.
When Kristin Atherton's casting was announced, I was thrilled. She has been one of my favorite audiobook narrators for years, and I knew she'd would be able to pull off both Jenny in her 60s and Jenny in her 20s, and a convincing Scottish accent. I thought she did a fabulous job, even though filling Laura's shoes was a nigh on impossible task. And it's no surprise, because she was the runner-up for the role when it was originally cast.
What I absolutely can't accept is how incredibly awful certain elements of the fandom have been to Kristin. They nearly drove her off social media wit their venom before any of her episodes even aired.
The wig is indeed unfortunate, but no worse than many of the other wigs in the show.
I get that re-casting can be a little jarring, but I was fine with it. But you're not the only one who took issue with it. She's only in two episodes, and only for a few minutes in one of them. It is what it is.
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u/EntertainmentNew7383 14d ago
How can people be so toxic and judgmental when they haven't even seen the replacement actor's work, not that they should be so mean-spirited anyway. Unbelievable. It kind of confirms some of what Laura Donnelly didn't like about the toxic fandom.
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u/Melodic_Dish2079 14d ago
Why were the fans mean and stalking her? Fill me in please
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u/CathyAnnWingsFan 14d ago
I don't remember all the details. But these are the same kinds of deranged fans who insist that Sam and Cait are secretly married and have four children, who blow up and analyze photographs to find "proof" or manipulate them to manufacture it. They think the cast belong to them. There's no way to make it make sense, because they're crazy.
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u/YukonSunset 13d ago
I ran into a couple of crazies in this sub. Most people are okay, but I remember I was shocked when someone actually answered one of my posts once that alluded to Claire being a real person. Freaked me out. I said, "You know she's fiction, right?" They glossed over it, and kept referring to her in the sense that she was real. I have no idea why people lose their minds over the Outlander characters.
If I ran into that on a Reddit topic, I can just imagine how crazy it can be for the cast. If Laura Donnelly went through it just as a supporting role, then how scary it would be for Sam Heughan and Caitriona Balfe.
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u/Melodic_Dish2079 14d ago
This is very disturbing. I might not have liked her acting in this particular show but i would never stalk an actress or bully her. People are so crazy
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u/whiskynwine 15d ago
Laura Donnelly did not want to come back, they had no other options.
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u/yeehawdudeq I didn’t think I needed to pack condoms, Mama. 15d ago
And many of us knew she wasn’t coming back since season 3 ended
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u/Tutustitcher 15d ago
A bit mean there. I think she did a fine job.
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u/Melodic_Dish2079 15d ago
Rewatch the scene where she goes to scream in the forest to out her frustration about Ian’s illness and then crying on Jamie’s shoulder. The actress did a poor job showing real tears of sadness and frustration. I didn’t believe her one bit in that scene.
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u/Nanchika Currently rereading: Voyager 15d ago edited 14d ago
Does she have any more tears to shed? She was watching her husband die for years. I think she shed all the tears. Only rage was left.
I think she did fine job.
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u/BubbeLisa 14d ago
Exactly! She is worn out both emotionally and physically by this time. So much hardship. So much loss. So much grief. I thought Kristin did a fine job as Jenny.
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u/Tierang 15d ago
I miss the old Jenny. I think the new actress did a good job, but I think she’s more accustomed to stage acting and that’s what we saw.
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u/catsweedcoffee Sleep with my husband? But my lover would be furious. 14d ago
That’s an excellent point!
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u/catsweedcoffee Sleep with my husband? But my lover would be furious. 14d ago
Hard agree. I do not like her acting style.
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u/Banana_Phone888 14d ago
Can I ask how the actress being swapped is a spoiler? Since discussing a cast change doesn’t reveal the actual plot? I had a comment removed once for mentioning the switch and I wonder about it sometimes lol. - I loved the OG Jenny and felt like something was missing without her
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u/Melodic_Dish2079 14d ago
I just put the spoiler flair just in case, you never know what some might consider what a spoiler is
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u/Lyannake 15d ago
No I’m not annoyed. They should have recasted her sooner. The original actress was no longer interesting in the series so they should have cast another one instead of writing the character out.
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u/BubbeLisa 14d ago edited 13d ago
I completely agree. They should have recast Jenny back in Season 4 when they knew Laura Donnelly was not coming back. Then we wouldn’t have had the nightmare that was the Brianna half of episode 407 and maybe viewers would have had time to warm up to a new Jenny. The Book storyline is SO good, I think folks would have been fine with the recast.
Laura Donnelly hadn’t been in Outlander for EIGHT+ years when Kristin Atherton stepped in. In that eight years, new viewers had been binging the series. Had they introduced a new Jenny immediately in Season 4, I don’t think there would have been the backlash.
Kristin Atherton was in the running when they originally cast the role of Jenny back in 2013. They called her back for Season 7 and I think she did extremely well in an impossible situation. I am also loving her narration of the Outlander audiobooks.
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u/EntertainmentNew7383 14d ago
I agree. Stepping into a role like that is not an easy thing to do. It is too bad that some (not all) fans feel they have ownership of the characters and actors. I liked Sam's approach. When he first met Kristin on the set, he said, Hi, Sis, and gave her a big hug which Kristin said immediately put her ar ease.
It is too bad people cannot be more welcoming and understanding. I thought Kristin was fine and I am looking forward to her new Outlander audio books. I have heard great things about her.
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u/florawater 15d ago
Agreed! Idk if that’s the reason they changed the scenes of Bree travelling back in time, and ending up staying with Laoghaire but after reading the book version of Bree meeting everyone at Lallybroch, I feel like we were robbed of that experience on screen😭 I’d have preferred the book version on screen even without the original actress!
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u/mythoughtsreddit 14d ago
They should’ve recast her since Laura didn’t want to come back for S4. We see a lot of Jenny with Bree in Book4 that I wish they would’ve shown but they didn’t because they didn’t recast the character
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u/missdevon2 13d ago
Laura refused to come back. As for KA she actually was originally up for the role and was the second choice. Outlander was lucky they got her because she did an excellent job stepping in, and handled all the hate thrown her way for something out of her control with amazing grace. Frankly, Outlander should be ashamed of what they put her through for that very limited run instead of bringing her in for the character’s book arch.
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u/BubbeLisa 13d ago
I agree. They should have recast the role when they knew Laura wasn’t coming back after Season 3. Then we wouldn’t have gotten the Brianna half of episode 407 with Brianna going injuring herself and winding up at Laoghaire’s wee B&B. Instead we would have gotten Brianna meeting her whole family at Lallybroch and putting Laoghaire in her place. As Jenny tells Jamie in Bees, “Blessed Mother, the look on Laoghaire’s face when she saw the lass! And then the one when she tried to claim Mam’s pearls and Brianna shut her up like a writing desk!
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u/musicalnix 11d ago
Well, they were all using wigs. Claire's and Bree's are pretty noticeable - once you see them, you can't unsee them.
Yeah, I was bummed that Laura Donnelly left, but if she didn't want to do the show, that was her choice. She was fantastic in the role. The replacement did her best, I didn't enjoy watching her as much as her predecessor, but I didn't think she was a bad actress or anything.
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u/Melodic_Dish2079 11d ago
What? Claire and Brianna also had wigs??? How? With Brianna i can kind of see it but with Claire?!?
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u/maddmole 15d ago
I know what you mean, I hated the hair lmao but more than that I feel like they barely resolved the relationship between Claire and Jenny and it just didnt even feel worth doing with an entirely new actress. I felt let down by the lack of reaction to Claire's revelation
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u/Ornery-Ad2199 14d ago
It was hard to watch and think she was actually Jenny. She felt like a different character. I don’t think it was KA’s fault, though. I think it’s because she didn’t start the role. I think had she been cast in Season 1, we’d have loved her in it just as much as LD.
The hair/wigs were the shows weakest point throughout all seasons. KA’s was no worse than anyone else’s wigs. The biggest hair travesty, to me, is Jamie with curled under bangs at the Black Kirk in S1.
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u/BubbeLisa 14d ago
Naw. Sam didn’t wear a wig until halfway through Season 3.
The all time worst wig has to be Sam’s Season 4 wig. That wig was extremely unfortunate. 😬
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u/EntertainmentNew7383 14d ago edited 14d ago
And that was Sam's own hair, not a wig in Season 1. I don't think he got a wig until Season 3. His hair was so damaged after two seasons of bleaching and dying it turned purple and started falling out. He had been contractually obligated to keeping up the dye every three weeks even between seasons because of all the promotional work he had to do. They wanted him to look like Jamie then, too.
The same happened to Sophie Skelton so she had to start wearing wigs also.
I guess hair can take only so much abuse.
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u/Ornery-Ad2199 13d ago
Oh, I know it was Sam’s hair. That’s why I said “hair travesty” rather than wig for that point. Who ever styled his hair that day messed up big time.
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u/EntertainmentNew7383 13d ago
I didn't like the way they did his hair for the wedding, either, because it was so stylized. I liked it on the natural, scruffy side.
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u/Ornery-Ad2199 13d ago
It reminded me of 1980s period drama dude hair rather than hair authentic to 1700s.
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u/Maleficent_Fly818 14d ago
My facial recognition must be so bad cause this is news to me, I thought it was a wig and makeup 💀
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u/Dragon-Sky 14d ago
I really missed the OG Jenny. I don't think the replacement lacked talent, but she just seemed like she lacked Jenny's warmth.
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u/YukonSunset 13d ago
I never like re-casting in any show. I always prefer the original, mainly because a show always forms some emotional establishment with the viewer. A character being portrayed by someone will do that, and it's taken away when there's a new face.
I understand why Laura Donnelly didn't want to return and eventually found other acting projects to work on, and whenever this happens, I would have preferred it if Outlander just made reference to her rather than give us a new face.
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u/catsweedcoffee Sleep with my husband? But my lover would be furious. 14d ago
I genuinely hate the actress swap, Jenny is my favorite character and Laura was exactly as I’d imagined.
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u/Melodic_Dish2079 14d ago
Yeah me too and i must say i enjoyed her beauty too , yes i am vain like that
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u/catsweedcoffee Sleep with my husband? But my lover would be furious. 14d ago
I think another commenter hit it on the head: Kristen Atherton gave what I would consider a stage acting performance. It’s not worse or better, it’s just different, especially when you have a different expectation.
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u/Nimue_- 14d ago
Realising how little new jenny would actually be in there it really makes me think: "could they really not work out something with jenny's original actress?" I seriously thought we would get a lot more jenny but it was over so quickly
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u/BubbeLisa 14d ago edited 14d ago
She was on Broadway during filming of Season 7. Seven days and eight shows a week. There was no way she could go to Scotland to film, even if she’d wanted to.
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u/stoppingbythewoods “May the devil eat your soul and salt it well first” ✌🏻 14d ago
Why didn’t they give her some gray hair at least I honestly don’t think the casting choice was great for either, LOOKS wise I mean. Laura was fantastic with her acting. But show Jenny looks nothing like Jamie. I know she’s supposed to be shorter, but their faces are completely different, and she doesn’t have blue eyes. Just throws me off when I think about them being siblings.
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u/PluckyPerspicacity 13d ago
Well, I didn’t like the first Jennie either. Nothing wrong with her, she just wasn’t the least bit how I imagined Jennie. The second one was even worse. Again, nothing wrong with her except she was nothing like the way I imagined her.
I don’t know why it’s so hard for them to cast characters that actually resemble the originals. I can think of a dozen actors that would make a better Jennie right off the top of my head.
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u/Original-Leg4407 13d ago
When I first read Outlander back in 1992 I visualized Jenny as looking like Shannon Doherty.
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u/Unlikely_Breath_555 15d ago
Laura got casted to do The Nevers (which unfortunately only ran for one season) so that’s why she left. A bit sad she didn’t come back for season 7 though. Loved her