So it’s completely possible that you may be just as surprised as one Outlander megafan was recently when she “discovered” that the year before Outlander’s Season 1 debut, Balfe had a small role in the 2013 Arnold Schwarzenegger/Sylvester Stallone thriller EscapePlan—playing the Terminator’s daughter! Twitter user Elizabeth Smith (who goes by the handle @Dumspirospero67) shared what appears to be all two-ish minutes of Balfe’s screen time from the feature film, which (spoiler alert!) ends with a twist that hinges on Balfe’s character. She’s briefly seen as a CIA operative at the start of the film when she hires Stallone’s character (who’s a prison security expert) to secretly embed himself in an actual prison while posing as a convict; the last scene reveals that she actually hired Stallone to help get her dad out of that prison. “And to think,” Smith captioned the clip, “many years ago when I first watched this film I had no idea who the beautiful actress was playing Arnold Schwarzenegger’s daughter.” Balfe has opened up about her role in Escape Plan before, divulging some hilarious on-set secrets to Conan O’Brien in 2016. She told the talk-show host that the first time she met Stallone, he remarked on her tall stature by asking, “Who ordered the giraffe?” Balfe’s response? “I guess my shoes are coming off.” Smith isn’t the only Balfe fan on social media who’s happened across her Escape Plan performance now that she’s an A-list name; if you take a look on Twitter, you’ll see several mentions of her small but significant role in the movie. Our personal favorite is probably this tweet from April 2021, in which Twitter user @mushka_mushk notes that Balfe read an entire book about the history of the CIA (author Tim Weiner’s Legacy of Ashes) to prep for her role! Pre-Outlander, Balfe’s other feature film roles included small parts in Super 8 and Now You See Me; she’s also admitted in interviews that you can see her feet strutting across the screen (with Meryl Streep in the background!) in The Devil Wears Prada. As for Heughan, his pre-Outlander resumé featured more TV than movies, but you might have seen him onstage playing Batman in a touring production called Batman Live. Next, See Caitriona Balfe Reveal Her Celeb Crush (You’ll Never Guess!)—And How She Embarrassed Herself in Front of Prince!
