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"Outlander" star Caitriona Balfe, who has been creating waves for her fiery on screen chemistry with co-star Sam Heughan, recently sat down for an interview and talked at length about the challenges she faced in playing Claire Randall in "Outlander". In the series, Balfe plays a married nurse who mysteriously goes back in time. Randall gets torn between two worlds when her romance with Scottish warrior, Jamie Fraser (Heughan) begins.

"Well, for anyone who's read the books, Diana does not hold back. It's romantic but it's not fluffy at all. There's nothing sappy about the story at all. It's quite gritty. It's quite raw and real. I've filmed some sex scenes already but they're very integral to the storyline and they're not really gratuitous at all. Claire is a very sexually comfortable, sexually active woman and they show that. I think it's all in keeping with the story," said Balfe about her onscreen romance with Heughan, according to Nuke The Fridge.

Balfe also said that she did not know that other actresses had also auditioned for the role she was roped in. She apparently had no idea that a huge search had gone into the process of finding the right face for Balfe's character.

"Well, I wasn't aware of the huge search. I heard about it much later. I think my manager sent it to me in August. I think Sam [Heughan] had already been cast in June so they were looking for about three or four months," she said.

She also said that she taped her audition herself and sent it from L.A to the concerned casting team in London. Heughan was then flown to L.A to read the scenes with Balfe before being finalised within a week, according to the report.

Meanwhile, Balfe and Heughan's onscreen chemistry has sparked off rumours of their off screen romance. The two have made several appearances together for the promotion of the series and looked picture perfect, according to media reports.

There is still no confirmation whether the two are dating, but speculations are rife that they could take their relationship to the next level as "Outlander " series progresses.

Balfe and Heughan's drama series "Outlander" is shown on Starz TV Network.