Why Caitríona Balfe Initially Said No to 'Sense and Sensibility'

After wrapping her eight-season run on Outlander, Caitríona Balfe was ready to push pause on period dramas. She first stepped into the role of Claire when filming kicked off on the Starz sensation in October 2013, and then played the character for over a decade, finishing up her run when the show officially wrapped in September 2024. At that point, Balfe’s schedule was free and clear to pursue new opportunities and, at the time, she was quite committed to ensuring that they were different from Outlander. However, then Sense and Sensibility came along.

An adaptation of Jane Austen’s debut novel, the 2026 big screen rendition of Sense and Sensibility follows in the footsteps of the 1995 version directed by Ang Lee and written by Emma Thompson, who won the Academy Award for Best Adapted Screenplay and was also nominated for Best Actress for her performance as Elinor Dashwood, alongside Kate Winslet’s Oscar nominated performance as her sister, Marianne.

You’re adapting a beloved text and following an Oscar-winning adaptation. The pressure and expectation was bound to be through the roof for this new Focus Features version of the story. What gave Balfe faith in the project? It was director Georgia Oakley.

Caitríona Balfe Almost Turned Down 'Sense and Sensibility' After 'Outlander'

"‘I said no more corsets or period dramas."

While in London celebrating the film’s big debut, Balfe took the time to join me for a Collider Ladies Night conversation to recap her journey in film and television thus far and, of course, that included the transition from Outlander to Sense and Sensibility. While discussing what inspired her to commit to the Austen adaptation, Balfe laughed and admitted, “When my team first approached me with it, I was like, ‘I said no more corsets or period dramas.’”

However, then Balfe found out that Oakley would be behind the lens. Sense and Sensibility is only Oakley’s second feature film as a director, but her first, Blue Jean, had Balfe convinced that she could soar working with the Diana Reid-penned script.

“I had seen Blue Jean, and I loved that film so much, and I thought what she had done with that film was kind of astounding. As a first film, it was so assured. It was so powerful and emotionally deft, because the lead in that wasn't a linear kind of, ‘Oh, this is the person we're on board with.’ That's such a complicated character, and the way she handled it and handled the emotional journey of it was incredible.”

Balfe’s confidence in Oakley grew during their first meeting together.

“The minute I met her and the minute she started talking about what she wanted to do with this film, the kind of adaptation she wanted to make, she showed me some inspirational stills, which was stuff that I have loved and flagged, and I was just fully on board. I was like, ‘Well, if you're going to lead us on this journey, I'm with you.’ I think when you meet somebody who has a specific artistic vision, you can tell. You're like, ‘Oh, this is going to be your vision,’ and that is, to me, what you need. You're an auteur, and so I want to help facilitate that.”

How Caitríona Balfe Put Her Own Spin on Mrs. Dashwood

"There's a tendency to read Mrs. Dashwood as quite silly and frivolous."

Just as Oakley was applying her own vision to the iconic text, Balfe would make this version of Mrs. Dashwood uniquely her own. “I'm glad I hadn't seen the previous adaptations for a long time. That's the one thing, I don't want to see it again until I'm well finished, because I don't want to be influenced.”

Balfe’s greatest influence when finding her own version of the character was Reid’s script — specifically one line in it. She explained:

“There was a line in the script about her optimism, and I think that, to me, was the biggest key. Because there's a tendency to read Mrs. Dashwood as quite silly and frivolous, and Georgia was like, ‘She's not frivolous,’ and that her and Marianne have that same kind of freedom and wildness.”

The more she worked on the character, the more she came to see Mrs. Dashwood as a “very benevolent, optimistic hippie.” Balfe continued:

“She’d be a hippie. She'd be like, ‘Sure, girls, whatever you want to do!’ But it was that optimism that I held on to, and I was like, ‘That's my guide for whatever I'm playing.’ And so, that scene that we talked about before, where you see that really being pulled from under her, is such a pivotal moment in the story. She just believes that it's all going to turn out okay.”

You can catch Balfe in Sense and Sensibility in theaters now, and be sure to watch her full Collider Ladies Night interview in the video at the top of this article.