One is the Laird of Lallybroch; the other the Duke of Hastings. One wants children but never raised them; the other would like to not have any heirs thank-you-very-much. One burns; the other, well... he burns too. Jamie from Outlander and Simon from Bridgerton may not seem to share too much in common when you get past the superficial aspects of their respective shows, but turns out, the leading men of Bridgerton and Outlander love to make similar proclamations when it comes to love.

When Bridgerton hit Netflix at the end of 2020, comparisons to Outlander inevitably followed. They are both romance-forward period pieces based on a series of books featuring steamy sex scenes. Anyone who watches Bridgerton and Outlander knows the series are different beyond that. But the comparisons have led to fans getting defensive over their preferred show. As Reddit user egg_elsie recently noted in the Outlander subreddit, Jamie burned before Simon did on Bridgerton.

Both Sam Heughan and Regé-Jean Page are masters of the smolder. And rather than divide the fandoms and choose one fictional character over the other, I am here to highlight the many times these passionate men have had similar energies. Because can't the world hold space for two ridiculously attractive men when it comes to their TV love stories? Let us not quarrel and instead marvel at how these guys are on the same page when it comes to making their women (and everyone at home) swoon.