The Fraser family is hugging each other tighter than ever. It is a cold, windy day in April of 2024 on the set of Outlander in Scotland, but this moment from the eighth and final season’s premiere would warm any heart. Claire (Caitríona Balfe) and Jamie’s (Sam Heughan) daughter Brianna (Sophie Skelton) and her husband Roger (Richard Rankin) have — surprise! — time-traveled back from the 20th century with their young children to make their forever home on Fraser’s Ridge in 1700s North Carolina.
“For them to come home is everything that Jamie’s wanted,” Heughan says. The moment mirrors how the cast feel about returning to set. Balfe shares, “We spent so long apart last season, in different timelines and worlds. Everybody is very excited that we all get to work together again.”
Shortly before the reunion, TV Guide Magazine watched another scene where the Frasers reassured young Frances (Florrie May Wilkinson), who they believe is the surviving child of their daughter, Faith, thought to have died at birth. “They’re trying to make Fanny feel that she is safe and has their protection,” Balfe says. But inside, “Claire is trying to wrap her head around, ‘Did their daughter have a life that they could have been part of that they never knew about?”
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Learning that Faith might have survived was only one of the cliffhangers in the finale of the seventh season of this fantasy romance about
a time-traveling doctor and her Highland warrior husband, based on the bestselling novels by Diana Gabaldon. That hour also saw Bree
and Roger about to make the fateful decision to return to the 1770s. These upcoming 10 episodes incorporate moments from Gabaldon’s
ninth and most recent book, Go Tell the Bees That I Am Gone, and extend beyond stories known to readers.
Gabaldon has a 10th book planned to close out Jamie and Claire’s story, and exec producer Matthew B. Roberts made sure they were on
the same page for the show. “I’ve talked to Diana about how it’s going to end, being careful to know what she’s thinking and careful not to tread on anything she is planning,” he says.
A Terrible Prophecy
The Frasers settle cozily into a new house built by Ian (John Bell) to replace the one that burned down. They happily anticipate Ian’s wife Rachel’s (Izzy Meikle-Small) first child and enjoy Lizzie’s (Caitlin O’Ryan) meaningful gift of a beehive.
But Bree’s time-travel carry-on bag contains a bombshell. It’s a history book, Soul of a Rebel, written by Frank Randall (Tobias Menzies), Claire’s first husband, who raised Bree as his own in the 20th century. It includes the mention of Jamie’s death in a backcountry North Carolina battle during the Revolutionary War. Jamie reads it (only Heughan, TV’s hunkiest grandpa, can make a silent reading scene look this sexy).
“He doesn’t tell anyone right away because he wants to protect his family,” the actor says.
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Once he does reveal it to Claire, both wonder about Frank’s intentions. Did he know they would read it and try to stoke their fear? Or was he sending a warning? “Just because something’s written doesn’t mean that they believe it,” Balfe says. “For Claire, there are things she refuses to believe are possible.”
Losing one or the other would be devastating for the soulmates. Fans of their romantic side won’t be disappointed in this final season’s bedroom moments. “Caitríona and I have talked about it a lot. We wanted to make it real. It’s softened, but it’s still passionate,” Heughan says. The scenes have plenty of heat, although they are not as steamy as the beloved wedding night or Season 3’s famous turtle soup–fueled shipboard tryst. “I mean, it’s like 20-odd years of their life. I don’t know that there’s anything new left for ’em,” Balfe says with a laugh about their sex life. “But I think it’s always different shades.” Balfe also foreshadows that on an emotional level, “There’s stuff at the end of the season that they haven’t gone through before.”
Family Tree
One thing lighting Jamie’s fire, but not in a good way, is his lingering jealousy over Claire’s brief marriage to Lord John Grey (David Berry)
and their one night of grief-stricken lovemaking when both thought Jamie was dead. “Jamie can forgive some things, but don’t sleep with
his wife,” Heughan says. “Ultimately, it’s hard for him to let that go.”
The object of Jamie’s fury is living hundreds of miles away in Savannah, Georgia, and has his hands full with the young man he raised as his own son, British officer William Ransom (Charles Vandervaart), who is still fuming about not knowing that Jamie was his biological father. He finds distraction from his self-pity when he meets his cousin Ben’s (Alex Bhat, seen in flashbacks) beautiful widow, naturalist Amaranthus (Carla Woodcock), who, with her baby, has come to live with Lord John.
Another saving grace for William is crossing paths with his half-sister, Bree. Skelton says, “She can see him making the same mistakes
she did — acting out, blaming their dad. She tells him that family is too important.” Roger is Bree’s rock, but they soon face “the hardest separation that they’ve been through. Sending your husband off to war, the passion comes out.” Don’t worry about Bree being alone. Skelton proudly says, “I have the best shot on the Ridge.”
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The Revolutionary War
That marksmanship is put to work the next day on set in a mossy forest in a hunting scene with Skelton and Heughan. Father and daughter catch up, banter, and then come across a shocking sight of dead bodies. It is so gruesome that hikers not involved in the production who are passing on a nearby trail stop and stare.
The display is fallout from the Revolutionary War, but others are fighting tyranny in a more civilized way. Take Jamie’s adopted son, the former child pickpocket Fergus (César Domboy). He and his wife, Marsali (Lauren Lyle), whom we haven’t seen since they left the Ridge in Season 6, are living with a house full of bairns in Savannah, where he runs a print shop.
“Fergus is a passionate revolutionary, and he’s using the print shop underground to get information out,” Rankin says. “Roger gets quite caught up in the revolution.” But his calling as a man of God creates a dilemma. “He won’t take a life because it’s against his beliefs, an issue when you’re facing the other end of a musket.”
Plenty of men have decided to step off the battlefield. One of them is the proprietor of a new trading post at the Ridge. He is a retired
British soldier, Capt. Charles Cunningham (Kieran Bew), who, like Jamie, has sworn off fighting. Or so it seems. “Jamie’s not suspicious at first. He realizes Cunningham has got influence. He’s rallied people. Then Jamie’s Spidey sense goes off. Throughout the season, [Cunningham] becomes a big threat,” says Heughan.
Related‘Outlander’: 5 Book Moments Set to Feature in Season 8
An appetite for conflict is in the Cunningham DNA. The captain’s mother, Elspeth (Frances Tomelty), has a strong personality that makes a bad first impression on Claire. Another new face is Benjamin Cleveland (Sanditon‘s Turlough Convery), based on a real historical figure. Heughan admits: “Jamie’s concerned; in Frank’s book, he fights alongside [Cleveland and his militia], who are dealing out their own style of justice and law — not Jamie’s.”
Backcountry Hardships
The war isn’t the only danger. Day-to-day Colonial life brings plenty of risks. One is childbirth, as Claire delivers more than one baby.
Luckily, the coming of Rachel’s child is, Balfe tells us, “such a lovely scene.” Not so for another sequence Balfe directed in the second episode. She teases, “I had all the women foraging and talking. It was a beautiful moment of great female energy and sisterhood. Then something very bad happens. There’s always loss and grief. One is like nothing Claire’s ever experienced.”
Prepare yourself for another fire, more devastating than the one that destroyed the big house on Fraser’s Ridge. Of the conflagration, Rankin says, “It’s very sad, very emotional. It’s a memorable part of the whole show, not just Season 8. People are going to be shocked. It’s going to hit hard and not necessarily play out the way people think.”
One thing that may take the edge off of Outlander‘s twisty emotional goodbye is anticipating Season 2 of the Blood of My Blood prequel, which follows Claire’s and Jamie’s parents. Now that Outlander is wrapped, would this cast ever appear on the spinoff? Balfe confesses she’d love to direct, while Rankin says mischievously, “It wouldn’t be difficult to bring Roger in. He has already missed his mark in terms of going back in time.” He’s referring to his character’s misadventure in Season 7, where he ended up in the wrong era with road trip buddy Buck (Diarmaid Murtagh), who will stop by Outlander this season. When asked if a movie is possible, Roberts says, “We’re not closing the door. We always say, ‘Never say never.’ ” For Outlander, we are ever grateful.
Outlander, Season 8 Premiere, Friday, March 6, Starz
For more inside scoop on the final episodes of Outlander, straight from the Season 8 set, pick up a copy of TV Guide Magazine’s Farewell Outlander Collector’s Issue, available at Outlander.TVGM2026.com and on newsstands now.
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