Sam Heughan Balanced ‘Outlander’ Filming With ‘Bloodshot’ Movie Training

“Outlander” fans know that Sam Heughan is in great shape. He’s often shirtless on the Starz show, but he also founded fitness program My Peak Challenge and documents his love for physical activity on social media. However, “Bloodshot” still wanted Heughan to push himself even further.

"I spoke to [director David S. F. Wilson] initially, and he wanted me to get as big as I possibly could,” Heughan told Syfy Wire.

He revealed that shooting “Outlander” at the time made the scheduling pretty difficult, but the Scottish actor was up for the challenge.

“I was shooting a TV show at the time, so it was hard to fit that in,” he said. “But I did, I trained as hard as I could. We rehearsed all of those fights over and over. A lot of them were practical, [they] were real. We did do a lot of wirework and a lot of choreography. We shot them over a couple of weeks, and then went for pickups as well.”

“Bloodshot” shows Heughan as Jimmy Dalton, an enhanced soldier with an exoskeleton. He’s the antagonist to Vin Diesel’s Ray Garrison (AKA Bloodshot), a genetically-enhanced super-soldier.

The movie hit theaters Friday, and early estimates place it in third at the box office for the weekend. It was predicted to pull in between $10 million to $12 million. Instead, it only earned $9.3 million, but the loss is to be expected amid the coronavirus pandemic. Many movie theaters are operating at reduced capacity or even closing and people are trying to avoid large gatherings to avoid spreading COVID-19.

According to The Hollywood Reporter, “Bloodshot” wasn’t the only title to suffer. It was the worst weekend at the box office in 20 years.

While Heughan fans might have to wait to watch “Bloodshot” safely, they can rest assured knowing he is still on TV every Sunday. “Outlander” Season 5 airs Sundays on Starz.