The Departure of Jenny Murray: The Full Story Behind Laura Donnelly’s Outlander Exit

Introduction: An Unmistakable Absence, An Inevitable Recast

In the ninth episode of its seventh season, the Starz historical drama Outlander delivered a moment fans had anticipated for years: the return of protagonists Jamie and Claire Fraser to Lallybroch, the ancestral family home in the Scottish Highlands.¹ The homecoming was freighted with emotion, a reunion not just with a place but with family. As Jamie, Claire, and their nephew Young Ian approached the stone archway, they were greeted by the formidable matriarch of the estate. Yet, for millions of viewers, the long-awaited scene was immediately and profoundly jarring. The woman who stood before them was Jenny Murray, but she was not the Jenny Murray they knew.

Janet “Jenny” Fraser Murray, Jamie’s older sister, is a cornerstone of the Outlander saga. Described in Diana Gabaldon’s novels and established on-screen as fiercely protective, sharp-tongued, and the unwavering heart of the Fraser clan, she is far more than a secondary character.² For the show’s first three seasons, she was brought to life with a “hard and passionate” intensity by Northern Irish actress Laura Donnelly.³ Donnelly’s performance, imbued with a “stubborn charm,” was so definitive that she became inextricably linked with the character in the minds of the audience.⁴ Her on-screen chemistry with Sam Heughan’s Jamie was that of true siblings—a bond forged in shared trauma and deep-seated love—making her a fan favorite and an essential part of the show’s emotional architecture.⁴

When the main plotline carried Jamie and Claire to the American colonies after Season 3, Jenny’s absence from the screen was a narrative necessity. But fans of the books knew her story was far from over, and her eventual return was a certainty.⁴ The announcement in 2022 that the role had been recast for the penultimate season, with actress Kristin Atherton stepping in, was therefore met with a mixture of shock and disappointment.⁴ A change of this magnitude in a series celebrated for its rich character development is never “done arbitrarily”.⁴ It begged the question that echoed across fan communities: Why did Laura Donnelly, an actress so perfectly cast and beloved in the role, leave

Outlander?

The answer is not a simple one. It is a complex, multi-year narrative of ambition, artistry, and circumstance. Donnelly’s departure was not a singular event but a gradual evolution, propelled by a confluence of a “job of a lifetime” theatrical opportunity, a demanding new lead television role, evolving artistic preferences, personal priorities, and the practical, often difficult, realities of long-running television production. This report deconstructs the full story behind her exit, revealing a decision born not of a single cause, but of a perfect storm of factors that ultimately led one of television’s most memorable characters to be reborn.

Part I: The Official Narrative – A Star’s Ascendant Trajectory

The most direct and consistently cited reason for Laura Donnelly’s departure from Outlander is the one rooted in the practicalities of a successful acting career: scheduling conflicts.¹ While a common explanation for cast changes, in Donnelly’s case, this was less a simple diary clash and more a reflection of a career hitting a steep, upward trajectory. Her journey from a beloved supporting player in a cable drama to a celebrated star of stage and screen created logistical impossibilities that even the most determined television production could not overcome.

The Initial Break – The Season 4 Scramble

The first significant sign of a scheduling challenge emerged during the production of Outlander‘s fourth season in 2018. The season’s storyline, based on the novel Drums of Autumn, featured a pivotal moment where Jamie and Claire’s daughter, Brianna, travels back in time and makes her way to Lallybroch. In the book, this leads to a significant meeting between aunt and niece. The show’s writers had every intention of depicting this reunion.⁸

However, as Executive Producer Maril Davis explained, Donnelly was ultimately unavailable. “In the last minute, Laura Donnelly could not be in this episode and she, unfortunately, had a prior commitment and just wasn’t able to commit,” Davis stated in a 2018 interview.⁸ The production team valued her contribution so highly that they delayed the decision, hoping for a resolution. Davis admitted, “We waited and we kept dragging our feet, quite honestly, because we thought we could convince her and the schedules would change. We could move our schedule and accommodate her but at the end of the day, it just didn’t work out so we scrambled to come up with another story”.⁸ The show was forced to devise a reason for Jenny’s absence, explaining she was away assisting with the birth of a grandchild—a narrative workaround that solved the immediate problem but underscored the growing difficulty of securing the actress.⁴

The “prior commitment” that took precedence was her starring role in the Broadway production of the play The Ferryman.⁸ This was not merely another job; it was an opportunity that would come to define the next phase of her career and make her subsequent return to

Outlander increasingly unlikely.

The “Job of a Lifetime” – The Unshakable Pull of The Ferryman

To understand Donnelly’s choice, one must understand the profound significance of The Ferryman. The play, written by her partner, the acclaimed playwright Jez Butterworth, was not a work of pure fiction. It was inspired directly by the tragic history of Donnelly’s own family.¹⁰ The central event of the play mirrors the 1981 disappearance of her maternal uncle, Eugene Simons, who became one of “the disappeared”—individuals abducted and murdered during the Troubles in Northern Ireland.¹⁰

The play was a deeply personal project that had been incubating for years, conceived after Butterworth and Donnelly watched a documentary that featured a portrait of her late uncle.¹⁰ Donnelly’s role as Caitlin Carney was, therefore, inextricably linked to her own heritage and family grief. The production, directed by the renowned Sam Mendes, became a theatrical phenomenon. It premiered at London’s Royal Court Theatre in April 2017 to rave reviews, becoming the fastest-selling play in the theatre’s history before transferring to the West End for an extended run (2017–2018) and then to Broadway’s Bernard B. Jacobs Theatre (October 2018–July 2019).¹³

Donnelly’s commitment to the role was absolute. She performed through a pregnancy with her second child and delivered a performance that garnered the highest accolades in theatre.⁹ For her portrayal of Caitlin Carney, she won the 2018 Laurence Olivier Award for Best Actress—the British equivalent of a Tony—and was subsequently nominated for a Tony Award for the Broadway production.¹³ This was a career-defining, critically lauded, and personally resonant achievement that demanded her full attention during the exact period

Outlander required her for Season 4.

A New Universe – The Demands of The Nevers

Following the monumental success of The Ferryman, Donnelly’s career continued its ascent. In April 2019, she was cast in the lead role of Amalia True in The Nevers, a high-concept science-fiction series for HBO created by Joss Whedon.¹⁶ This marked a significant step up from a recurring part to the top-billed star of a major network production.

The role was all-consuming. As the enigmatic, super-powered leader of a group of Victorian women known as “The Touched,” Donnelly was the anchor of the series.¹⁷ The part was physically demanding, requiring extensive preparation. “I really needed to start from scratch,” she said in an interview, detailing a regimen that included “six weeks of [stunt training]… and that was just for episode one!”.¹⁸ Filming began in London in July 2019 and was a massive undertaking, further complicated and drawn out by the production shutdown during the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020.¹⁶

In a 2021 interview conducted while still filming the first season, Donnelly confirmed the demanding nature of the project. “I’m shooting this for the rest of the year… And it does take up so much of my time. And it’s so all-consuming,” she explained.²⁰ The commitment to

The Nevers effectively occupied her schedule from 2019 through 2021, making any significant return to the Scotland-based production of Outlander a logistical impossibility.

A Crowded Schedule – Other High-Profile Projects

Donnelly’s schedule remained packed even after her primary commitments to The Ferryman and The Nevers. The period between her last appearance in Outlander and the recasting of her role was filled with a string of other notable projects, painting a clear picture of an actress in high demand.

Table 1: Laura Donnelly’s Key Career Commitments (2017–2024)

Year(s)	Project Title	Medium	Role	Notes & Achievements
2017–2019	The Ferryman	Theatre	Caitlin Carney	Olivier Award (Best Actress); Tony Award Nomination (Best Actress)
2018–2021	Britannia	Television	Hella	Recurring Role
2021–2023	The Nevers	Television	Amalia True	Lead Role; Significant time commitment
2022	Werewolf by Night	TV Special	Elsa Bloodstone	Key Role in Marvel Studios project
2024	The Hills of California	Theatre	Veronica	Lead Role in play by Jez Butterworth
2024	Say Nothing	Television	Helen McConville	Main Role in Miniseries

Sources: ¹

She took on a recurring role as the otherworldly Hella in the historical fantasy series Britannia.⁶ In 2022, she entered the Marvel Cinematic Universe, playing the monster-hunter Elsa Bloodstone in the critically praised Disney+ television special

Werewolf by Night.⁴ In 2024, she returned to the stage in another lead role for a Jez Butterworth play,

The Hills of California, and starred in the Hulu miniseries Say Nothing.¹

Taken together, this body of work demonstrates that the “scheduling conflict” narrative, while factually correct, is a profound understatement. The conflict was not between two equivalent jobs. It was between returning to a recurring, supporting role in a series she had been with for years and seizing a succession of lead-billing, critically acclaimed, and personally profound opportunities that elevated her career to a new stratum.

Part II: The Personal Calculus – An Artist’s Prerogative

Beyond the logistical impossibilities created by her schedule, Laura Donnelly’s decision was also shaped by a series of personal and artistic considerations. Through her own words in various interviews, a more nuanced picture emerges—one of an artist making conscious choices about the direction of her career and life, prioritizing projects that resonated with her personally and professionally at that specific moment.

The “Great Grandmother” Question – An Artistic Boundary

A significant factor in Donnelly’s thinking was the narrative trajectory of Jenny Murray herself. The Outlander book series spans decades, and the characters age considerably. While lead actors Caitriona Balfe and Sam Heughan embraced the challenge of portraying Claire and Jamie into their 50s and 60s, Donnelly expressed reservations about doing the same for Jenny.

As early as November 2018, with her Broadway run in full swing, she hinted at this reluctance. Speaking about Jenny’s eventual return in the novels, she noted, “she’s old… so I think that’s probably me out”.⁹ She elaborated on this sentiment in a 2021 interview, stating with a laugh, “Jenny [Fraser] is like a great grandmother by the time they go back. And I’m not sure playing a great grandmother is where my heart lies”.²⁰ This sentiment was noted within fan communities, where it was recalled that she “didn’t want to portray a character so much older than herself” and had specifically expressed disinterest in “play[ing] a grandma”.³

This was not an expression of vanity, but an artistic choice. At a time when she was being offered dynamic, physically demanding, and age-appropriate lead roles like Amalia True and Caitlin Carney, the prospect of returning to a supporting role that would require extensive aging makeup and a different kind of performance held less appeal. It was a clear statement about where she wanted to focus her creative energies.

Prioritizing Family and Theatre

Donnelly’s professional choices during this period were deeply intertwined with her personal life. She gave birth to her second child with Jez Butterworth while performing in The Ferryman, a period that directly coincided with her unavailability for Outlander‘s fourth season.⁹ The demands of raising a young family, coupled with a burgeoning career, naturally led to a re-evaluation of priorities.

She made this calculus explicit in her 2021 interview. When pressed on a potential return to Outlander, she laid out her commitments clearly: “The fact that I have two little kids and I love doing theater all come before another screen job will”.²⁰ This statement is revealing. It positions theatre not just as a job, but as a passion on par with her family. Her deep love for the stage, her preferred medium, provided a powerful incentive to choose demanding but finite theatrical runs over the open-ended commitment of a television series filmed abroad. “If I were forced to choose,” she once said, “I would have to say theatre”.²³ Her actions—choosing to star in

The Ferryman and later The Hills of California—perfectly align with this stated preference.

A Sense of Completion?

It is also possible that, from her perspective, Donnelly felt her primary contribution to the character of Jenny was complete. Despite the character’s importance to the fandom, Donnelly’s actual screen time was relatively limited. She appeared in only eight episodes across the first three seasons.²¹ She herself expressed some surprise at the character’s outsized impact. “The remarkable thing to me about Outlander is I never felt I was that big a part of it,” she reflected in an interview. “I would usually only be filming for a few weeks each season – but Jenny as a character seemed to make a big impact despite not a lot of screen time”.²³

This perspective suggests that she may have felt that she had successfully established the core of the character in those early seasons. Having laid that powerful foundation, the pull to return years later to portray a much older version of the character may have been lessened, especially when weighed against the fresh challenges and lead roles being offered elsewhere. Her departure, then, can be seen not as a rejection of Outlander, but as an affirmation of a new personal and professional trajectory. It was a proactive and logical pivot towards projects that aligned with her artistic ambitions, her primary passion for the stage, and the needs of her young family.

Part III: The Unspoken Pressures – The Fandom Factor

While official reasons point to a clear and logical career progression, another narrative has persistently circulated within the Outlander fan community. This more sensitive and speculative element suggests that harassment from a toxic segment of the show’s passionate fanbase may have contributed to Laura Donnelly’s decision not to return. While this factor remains unconfirmed by the actress herself, its prevalence in fan discussions provides important context for her departure.

Allegations from the Fandom

In numerous online forums, particularly on Reddit, fans have openly discussed harassment as a reason for Donnelly’s exit. “I’m more miffed that Laura Donnelly was harassed by outlander fans to the point that she decided she didn’t want to continue and moved to other projects,” one user wrote, adding, “That’s part of the reason we don’t get her for these seasons”.²⁴ Another user claimed she “got a lot of crap from ‘fans'” and was “not interested in returning after that”.³

The alleged harassment reportedly targeted her personal life, and some claims were more severe, with one commenter stating, “She was also put off by the toxic element in the fandom (she and her family were stalked)”.³ These discussions often frame the issue as part of a broader problem with a “poisonous fan group” that has engaged in “outrageous things” toward multiple cast members over the years.²⁴ The intensity of this behavior, according to some fans, led Donnelly to delete her social media accounts to escape the negativity.²⁴

Lack of Official Confirmation

It is crucial to note that these claims, however widespread in fan circles, are not substantiated by any public statements from Donnelly or her representatives. In fact, the only direct quote from her on the subject, from a 2018 interview, appears to downplay the issue. “I try to stay out of that kind of stuff, because it doesn’t help with the job,” she said, adding that she “never had to negotiate the avid Outlander fandom to quite the extent of her costars”.⁹

This statement can be interpreted in two distinct ways. On one hand, it could be a straightforward denial, indicating that she was not significantly affected by fan behavior. On the other hand, it could be seen as a diplomatic acknowledgment of a known problem that she consciously chose to distance herself from for professional reasons. Actors often avoid public confrontation with negative fan behavior to prevent amplifying it, so a lack of public comment does not definitively disprove the claims.

Analyzing the Plausibility

The timeline of these events is debated even within the fandom. Some speculate that the harassment was a reaction to her departure, with one user suggesting, “I am sure she decided to move on before the harassment. Hence the harassment”.²⁴ Others maintain it was a contributing cause for her not returning.³

Regardless of the sequence, the existence of this alleged toxic environment provides a powerful contextual element. It is best understood not as the sole cause of her departure, but as a significant “push” factor that likely made the “pull” of her other opportunities even more compelling. When weighing her options, the choice would have been between returning to a supporting role that came with the potential for online abuse and real-world intrusion, versus dedicating herself to prestigious, controlled, and positive creative environments like the company of The Ferryman or the set of The Nevers. Even if the harassment was not the primary driver, it almost certainly would have factored into the cost-benefit analysis, tipping the scales firmly in favor of moving on and making the decision to stay away from Outlander both easier and more appealing.

Part IV: The Show Must Go On – Recasting, Reception, and Narrative Divergence

With Laura Donnelly unavailable, the producers of Outlander faced a critical dilemma. The character of Jenny Murray was too integral to the upcoming storylines to be indefinitely sidelined. This narrative necessity forced the production’s hand, leading to the difficult decision to recast the role—a choice that had significant ripple effects on the show’s plot and its reception among fans.

The Narrative Necessity of Jenny

For several seasons, Jenny’s absence was narratively convenient. With Jamie and Claire establishing a life in colonial America, communication with Lallybroch was limited to letters, and her physical presence was not required.⁴ However, the plot of the seventh book,

An Echo in the Bone, on which Season 7 is partly based, mandated a return to Scotland. This homecoming was centered on several key events that could not unfold without Jenny.

The most critical of these was the illness and eventual death of her husband, Ian Murray.⁴ Jenny’s presence was essential to this deeply emotional storyline, which explored the final days of one of the show’s original and most beloved couples. Furthermore, the books featured other significant moments, such as Jenny’s long-awaited meeting with her niece Brianna—a scene already sacrificed in Season 4 due to scheduling issues.⁴ To omit Jenny from the events at Lallybroch again would have stretched credulity and gutted the story of its emotional weight. The producers concluded that “there was no way for such events to unfold without Jenny there”.⁴ The character was indispensable, and if Donnelly could not return, a recast was the only viable path forward.

The Recast – Kristin Atherton Steps In

In October 2022, Starz officially announced that the role of Jenny Murray had been recast, with British actress Kristin Atherton taking over for Season 7.⁴ In a compelling twist, it was revealed that Atherton had originally auditioned for the part of Jenny nearly a decade earlier when the series was first being cast.¹ This long-standing familiarity with the character suggested a deeper connection than a typical recast.

Atherton approached the formidable task with a clear artistic strategy. Rather than attempting a direct imitation of Donnelly’s iconic performance, she sought to make the role her own.¹ This approach was aided by the significant time jump in the narrative. The Jenny viewers meet in Season 7 is years older and has been weathered by life and loss. Atherton’s portrayal aimed to reflect this maturity, creating a character that was recognizably Jenny in spirit but different in demeanor.⁴ As one analysis noted, “She’s matured in numerous ways and Atherton illustrates those changes well”.⁴

Fan Reception and Narrative Divergence

The fan reaction to the new Jenny was, predictably, mixed. Many viewers expressed their heartbreak over the change, finding it difficult to accept a new face in such a familiar role. Comments on social media lamented that the new portrayal felt “wrong” or that Atherton, despite her efforts, lacked the “umph” that Donnelly brought to the character.²⁴ For these fans, Donnelly’s performance was simply irreplaceable.

However, another segment of the audience was more accepting, praising Atherton for taking on an incredibly difficult task and expressing excitement that the character would continue to be part of the story.²⁴ Many acknowledged that the choice was between a recast Jenny or no Jenny at all, and they were grateful for the former.²⁴

Perhaps the most significant consequence of the recast was a major creative deviation from the source material. In Diana Gabaldon’s novels, following Ian’s death, a grief-stricken Jenny makes the momentous decision to leave Scotland and travel with Jamie to America, starting a new life on Fraser’s Ridge.²⁹ This move is a huge part of her character arc in the later books. The television series, however, alters this entirely. After Ian’s funeral, Jenny remains at Lallybroch while Jamie returns to the colonies alone.²⁹

This change was almost certainly a direct and pragmatic consequence of the recast. To introduce a new actress and immediately commit her to a massive, multi-season storyline in America—fully integrating her with the core cast far from her character’s established home—would have been a significant logistical and creative risk. It was a far safer production choice to limit Atherton’s role to the essential, Scotland-based episodes of Season 7. This decision, while disappointing to many book readers, highlights how a real-world production constraint directly forced a major narrative divergence, prioritizing the stability of the show over strict fidelity to the novels.

Conclusion: A Tale of Two Jennys and One Actress’s Journey

The departure of Laura Donnelly from Outlander was not the result of a single disagreement or a simple scheduling conflict. It was the culmination of a “perfect storm” of professional opportunities, personal priorities, and artistic considerations that made her continued participation in the series untenable. The story of her exit is not one of a sudden split, but of a gradual and logical evolution away from a role she had so masterfully defined.

The primary drivers were the irresistible pull of career-defining opportunities. First came The Ferryman, a project that was not merely a play but a profound personal statement, which earned her the highest accolades of her profession. This was followed by the lead role in HBO’s The Nevers, a demanding, top-billed part that cemented her status as a leading actress. These were not opportunities an ambitious artist could, or should, refuse. Layered on top of this professional ascent were her own artistic choices—a stated reluctance to portray a character aging into grandmotherhood—and her clear desire to prioritize her young family and her fundamental love for the theatre. When considered alongside the persistent, if unconfirmed, background noise of a difficult fandom environment, her decision to move on becomes not only understandable but inevitable.

Ultimately, this was a “no-fault” separation. Laura Donnelly made a series of choices that were artistically fulfilling and perfectly logical for her life and career. In response, the Outlander producers, faced with the narrative necessity of the character, made the only practical choice available to them: they recast the role and adapted the story accordingly.

The legacy of Laura Donnelly’s Jenny Murray is twofold. First, it stands as a testament to a performance so powerful and indelible that the character became indispensable to the show’s narrative, forcing a difficult but necessary recast. Second, it serves as a compelling case study in the realities of long-form television, where the real-world journeys of actors can irrevocably alter the fictional worlds audiences have come to love. The story of Jenny Murray, once embodied by one actress, became a tale of two, forever shaped by the singular and successful journey of the first.

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