Kathryn VanArendonk

But instead, the outlander that we have is one that is inflected by Game of Thrones.

where it was like Game of Thrones is the biggest thing on television.

It is the only thing anybody wants is what is the next Game of Thrones.

And guess what?

There's a lot of on Game of Thrones, sexual violence.

And so it is like those two threads, this, this, um,

desire to be a romance to really invest in how much these people love each other and they're being faded across time and sexual pleasure all of this stuff uh is actively at odds with the tv context that where it's trying to be like but we're prestige and we're important and there's violence

Fascinating.

And unusual.

I think it's a huge part of why this show has struggled to catch on as much as it has.

toned that down significantly but it's also like still part of the books and there's still you know the author is a part of the she's one of the producers she is writing throughout on the show and so then you're in this weird place where it's like

Maybe it would be nice if this weren't as much a part of this story except she's right here and she made it a part of the story.

And how do you deal with that?

A hundred percent.

A hundred percent.

And it is a little bit...

Striking to me that those are the things that do stick in your mind between seasons.

I agree with you about the comfort elements of, I mean, the landscapes and the kind of textural stuff that I was talking about before.

The four poster beds everywhere.

And they're riding on horses and they have flowing hair and they're operating in almost a...