Based on the novels by Diana Gabaldon, time travel romance Outlander has never been afraid to throw rocks in the water and make ripples. This time, however, the series has full-on moved the plates of the Earth and created a tidal wave – introducing a narrative that may very well define the show as, truly, a separate entity from the novels.
Over 7 seasons, fans watched Sam Heughan and Caitriona Balfe’s Jaime and Claire suffer hardship after hardship, this last season being particularly tough on the characters and actors. Now with the finale’s major bombshell dropped, series producer Matthew B. Roberts has spoken of his own reaction to the reveal – one that not only promises an explosive season 8 but will change the entire series forever.
Understanding The Backstory That Makes The Twist So Shocking
Season 7 of Outlander had plenty of twists and turns for fans of the show, enough to keep them on their toes and shock them with some uncomfortable scenes. From sexual assaults to brutal murders, showrunner Ronald D. Moore seems entirely content to make his audience squirm at least once an episode. Now however, with a single season left to tell, Moore has seen to not only have audiences gasping ‘WHAT?!’ but leaving them with a whole host of other questions beginning with ‘how,’ ‘why’ and again ‘WHAT?!’.
The last episode saw Claire recover from a near fatal wound in which she hallucinated Master Raymond, a man who treated her in France in Season 2 around the time the couple lost their daughter – Faith. One of the more tragic Outlander deaths, Faith was the stillborn first daughter of Claire and Jaime and, up until this point, long considered dead.
This is apparently not so, as in the last episode – amidst the death of her sister Jenny for saving her from a brutal assault – Franny was adopted by Claire and Jaime, and found by the former singing a 20th century song. This song is one Claire sang to Faith when she assumed she was deceased. Now catching Franny singing the same song, Claire tells Jaime she believes Faith must have lived.
A shock for both her husband and the actor who played him, Heughan said to TV Line, “There are so many questions to be answered, like, how?!”
Matthew B. Roberts Talks The Big Twist And How It Works The Season 8 Plot
Ignoring the uncomfortable fact that, if this is true, William had a very personal relationship with his niece that’s veered into House of the Dragon territory, there are plenty of questions on Outlander fans’ minds. All the questions will be answered…in Season 8. Though that 8th season will be veering into territory not yet covered entirely by the books. However, Roberts notes that the idea for Faith to be alive comes from “a blurb in book 9” in which Jaime and Claire speculate on what if their daughter survived. Speaking to Entertainment Weekly, the producer elaborated on how the story would tie up.
“You’ll have to watch Season 8 to see what happens, but in creating this, we tried to pull as many stories from the book and stay faithful to that storyline,” he said. “Over the course of the years, when you pull a thread, the butterfly effect happens. Only the audience is going to be the judge of this, but I think we’ve tied these stories together in a bow for Season 8. It’ll be a very Outlander season. When I read the responses, and people send me DMs and things about how Outlander makes them feel, [it’s always messages] like, ‘This show wrecked me. I’ve watched it 10 times.’ There’s that feeling of that emotional letting where you come to the show to feel. Outlander Season 8 will give you all those feels.”
There’s that feeling of that emotional letting where you come to the show to feel. Outlander season 8 will give you all those feels.
Whilst Outlander will be ending with its 8th season, fans will have the prequel series Blood of My Blood’s first season to tie them over until then. The show will tell the story of the coming together of Jaime and Claire’s parents in the 16th and 20th centuries respectively.
Outlander Seasons 1-7 can be streamed now on Starz.