Where Did Outlander Tobias Menzies Film His Key Scenes?

What a treat it is to trace where Tobias Menzies shot some of his most memorable scenes in 'Outlander' — his dual turns as Frank Randall and the monstrous Black Jack Randall really lean on locations for mood, and Scotland does the heavy lifting. A lot of the big, iconic 18th-century sequences (the ones where he can be both cold and terrifying) were filmed at classic Scottish landmarks. Doune Castle doubles as Castle Leoch, which is a major set for the clan politics and many face-offs, and Midhope Castle is the unmistakable Lallybroch — both places have that lived-in medieval vibe that makes Black Jack’s cruelty and Frank’s quieter, modern sadness feel like they inhabit the same haunted world.

Culross and the village of Falkland are other favorites in the show’s location roster; Culross often stands in for the 18th-century towns and streets, with narrow lanes and period cottages that make the small-town scenes painfully real. For the 20th-century scenes — the ones where Frank is a historian, and there’s a very different, more domestic tension — the production used a mix of Glasgow and Edinburgh locations and studio interiors around Scotland. That helped create the sharp contrast between post-war domestic life and the rough, brutal history that the past throws up, all while keeping Tobias’s two characters convincing in both eras.

If you follow location trivia, you’ll notice the production also brings in grand houses and estate locations for specific moments (Helwater-type scenes and estate interiors) — Hopetoun House was used for some of those fuller, aristocratic settings in later seasons, giving those confrontations an almost stage-like grandeur. The more intimate, brutal interrogation scenes and torture sequences were often shot on controlled sets or specially dressed interiors so the camera could get intimate with Menzies’s performance without the chaos of a public historic site. And when the show branches outside Scotland for later arcs, the crew travels — some seasons used spots in Croatia and other places for period-accurate architecture — but Menzies’s core moments almost always tie back to Scotland’s castles, estates, and soundstages.

I’ve stood outside Doune and Midhope, and there’s a weird thrill knowing the guy who played both Frank and Black Jack walked and acted in those exact corridors and courtyards; the stonework and weather do half the acting for you. Tobias brings a razor-edge clarity to both men, and the locations only sharpen that contrast — the places feel like characters in their own right. Visiting them makes the performances feel even more layered and real to me, and that’s part of why those scenes stick with me so hard.