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"Starz has cast the female lead in the upcoming drama series Outlander. Caitriona Balfe will play Claire Randall in the TV adaptation of Diana Gabaldon&amp;#039;s best-selling books.  Outlander is centred around Jamie Fraser (Sam Heughan), who begins a romance with Claire (Balfe), a married combat nurse from 1946 who finds herself taken back to 1743. Gabaldon said of Balfe&amp;#039;s casting: &amp;quot;Hard to believe lightning can strike twice, but it surely did. The moment Caitriona Balfe came on screen, I sat up straight and said, &amp;#039;There she is!&amp;#039; She and Sam Heughan absolutely lit up the screen with fireworks.&amp;quot; Writer Ron Moore said: &amp;quot;The casting of Claire Randall was a long and difficult one because the role is so crucial to the success of our show. &amp;quot;Outlander is told from Claire&amp;#039;s point of view, and we experience the entire story through her eyes, so it was vital that we find exactly the right actor to play her. Caitriona wasn&amp;#039;t on anyone&amp;#039;s radar, she wasn&amp;#039;t on any list, but when we saw her audition tape, we immediately knew she was someone special. &amp;quot;Then, after we had her read with Sam, we knew we&amp;#039;d found our Claire. At its heart, Outlander is the story of two people - Claire and Jamie - their loves and losses, their adventures and tragedies, and now we finally have them both.&amp;quot; Balfe has previously appeared in Bryan Singer&amp;#039;s web series H+ and will also star in the upcoming Lionsgate film Escape Plan. Starz has ordered 16 episodes of the show, which will begin filming in Scotland this autumn, to air in 2014. "^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
<http://www.digitalspy.com/tv/outlander/news/a514693/outlander-casts-super-8s-caitriona-balfe-as-female-lead/>