Silvia Presente from ‘Outlander’ Believes Portraying the Intense Captain Harkness Scene Could Have Been Excessive

The latest episode of Outlander, titled “Ye Dinna Get Used to It,” sees William Ransom reuniting with Jane Pocock, also known as Arabella. Jane, a former prostitute, reaches out to William for help as she and her younger sister, Fanny, are in trouble. William, being the only trustworthy person Jane has ever encountered, becomes their beacon of hope.

**Spoilers for Outlander Season 7 Episode 14 “Ye Dinna Get Used to It,” now streaming on Starz**

In a previous episode, “Carnal Knowledge,” Arabella initially tried to seduce William, but their encounter took a different turn when William intervened to protect her from Captain Harkness. Despite their rocky start, William’s genuine concern for Arabella touched her heart, leading to a deeper connection between them. It was then revealed that Arabella’s real name is Jane.

In “Ye Dinna Get Used to It,” Jane seeks William’s assistance at his army camp, accompanied by her vulnerable sister, Fanny. Throughout the episode, we discover that Jane has been in the sex trade since a very young age and feels trapped in that lifestyle. The sisters’ distress deepens as they reveal the horrifying ordeal Fanny endured at the hands of Captain Harkness, shedding light on the dark reality they face.

Jane eventually confesses to William that she killed Harkness to save her sister from the same sexual assault she’s been forced to endure for years. William is moved and vows to protect her. However, the episode ends with William being handed over to Hessians.

Decider caught up with Outlander actress Silvia Presente to find out what she reckons Jane meant when she said a whore has honor and why William was able to earn Arabella’s trust…

DECIDER: I spoke to Charles Vandervaart recently, and he had the nicest things to say about working with you and about the bond that is very quickly forged between Jane and William. I’m curious what it was like for you to work with Charles and why do you think Arabella is drawn to William despite their rocky start?

SILVIA PRESENTE: Well, I mean, first of all, I feel like everyone’s going to have said this about working with Charles, but he is just incredible. He’s always such a welcoming, smiling face to have, especially when it’s very early in the morning and you haven’t had a coffee yet. He always makes you feel very welcome. And he’s just an incredible actor. He is very good at what he does and it’s no surprise that everyone loves him as William.

William and Arabella don’t meet on the best terms, really, do they? He’s a bit angry, a bit violent. She initially thinks that he’s going to be exactly like any other client she’s had, but I think the second time around, the night when he actually gives her a bit of peace and pays for her to have that peace and offers to not try and interrupt or disturb her, I think is a deciding moment when Jane realizes that he has some goodness to him. He’s not entirely like the person that she met the first time around. And I think he’s honest and open and he actually takes the time to try and talk to her, which is probably very unlikely with a lot of the other people that she meets in her day to day. I think it’s his desire to make her feel comfortable, which she’s probably ever experienced before.

In that sequence she tells him that a whore has a sense of honor as well. Their own code of it, if you will. How would you describe Jane’s sense of honor?

I think she has two different sides to her. I think she’s got her work side, which is her Arabella brain, and then I think she’s got everything that’s outside of that, which is Jane. And I think within work, her code of honor is the rules that she’s bound to. She has to provide a service. She has to do whatever is paid for and that’s that. She can give a bit of attitude, but that may not necessarily help her cause all the time. Although I’m definitely sure that she enjoys giving a bit of attitude. But then she’s got her own private, more intimate sense of honor, which is essentially all about protecting her sister and keeping her sister safe and sheltered from the horrible things that unfortunately, Jane has had to see. I think a lot of a lot of the decisions that she makes surrounding Fanny are less about herself, but more her little sister.

In Outlander Season 7 Episode 14, we kind of learn more about Jane. Like she has a little bit of Latin, but not how to do laundry. She’s been bought and sold since she was ten, but she doesn’t know the true value of money. What picture of Jane’s past did these little details give you and help you inform how you built the character?

Well, it definitely made me realize how how much she was forced to grow up very quickly at a very young age and probably had to see some really awful, horrible things. And I think it forced her to harden herself a little bit. And I think that’s partly why she is a bit tongue in cheek. She can be quite blunt. She’s still got a sense of humor. But I think a lot of that humor probably stems from the way that she interacts with Fanny. You know, they’re not in the best, most welcoming environment, but I think all she wants to do is protect her from it. So a lot of these jokes probably come around to try and lighten the mood and distract us from the world around them. And that’s probably a big reason as to why she is the way she is.

I wanted to ask about Fanny. I thought Florrie Mae Wilkinson was absolutely spectacular in the scenes I’ve seen with her. What was it like working with this young little actress on the set?

She’s so funny. She’s so incredible. I mean, you can tell that she’s going to grow up to be such an incredible actor. I mean, she already is and she’s not even finished school yet. You know what I mean? She’s so much fun. She brought so much energy. She always asks the funniest questions and just had so many funny one liners. You know, when the camera wasn’t rolling, we were cackling. And it was a pleasure.

Totally shifting gears, past seasons of Outlander have dealt directly with sexual trauma and abuse and violence, but we hear the worst about Harkness through monologue form, through through dialogue. We don’t see it on screen and you have to carry the weight of the experience to the audience. How did you feel about that decision? Would you have preferred some dramatization or did you like that it came across through Jane’s perspective?

Reading the monologue definitely gives you an insight into just how traumatic that night must have been for Fanny, as well as for Jane, but mostly for her. I think seeing something portrayed like that in a flashback could very easily be a bit too much. I think sometimes, and especially for people that maybe have experienced it themselves or just don’t really want to have to witness something like that. Seeing it through a monologue also gives you an insight into how that person feels about recalling it. And that was actually one of the more intimidating parts of of that episode, I think was that. I was a little bit intimidated by that monologue, but I think doing it, it gave me a chance to think about how Jane would look back on those events and would she be serious about it? Would she have an element of her that’s upset about it? Or would she stand by her decision? Which I think, ultimately, she does, for good reason.

The sex scenes that we see between Jane and William are interesting because Jane is the instigator. Like, she’s the one who wants to do it more than he does. I mean, obviously he also wants to participate, but he has this code of honor. So it seems interesting because she’s used to being bought and sold, but she wants to actually be with William. What do you think this relationship means to her? Has she been in love before or is that something new for her? Is she in love with William? How did you see the emotional angle of how the physical intimacy played out?

I don’t think she’s ever been in love before. I think she’s had moments when a man that she’s may be seen a few times has started to gain her trust a little bit and I think that trust has been betrayed. And I think that’s another reason why she is quite — she’s got quite a shield up at the beginning. She’s definitely got a blockage up for good reason. I think she starts to feel a sense of trust in William that she hasn’t felt with other people before. And I think she is learning things about some of the men that are out in the world that she hasn’t experienced before. That there is kindness in some men and they are well-intentioned. It’s something that grows with her, as well, over the season. The more time that they spend with each other, yes, they butt heads and they do have their arguments, but I think underneath that, there is a growing closeness between the two of them that I don’t think she ever expected to to feel.

I’ve only seen up to like the penultimate episode, so I don’t know how the season ends yet. Can you tell us anything about the finale? Is there any hope for a happily ever after?

I think there’s always hope, I think. And I think hope is a really important driving factor for the show in itself, as well, actually. There is more of Jane to come across the season, but I think that’s something that people have to wait and see.

This interview has been edited and formatted for clarity.