Outlander author Diana Gabaldon shares her candid thoughts about the game-changing season 7 ending. The closing minutes of the finale, titled “A Hundred Thousand Angels”, sees Claire (Caitríona Balfe) making the connection that her stillborn daughter Faith actually lived into adulthood, becoming the mother of Fanny Pocock (Florie Wilkinson) and Jane (Silvia Presente). It’s an unexpected note to end Outlander season 7 on, precisely because it departs from the novels on which the Starz show is based.
In an interview with Parade, Gabaldon shared her thoughts on the latest Outlander ending. She begins by saying that the twist is not part of the book, explaining that the Starz adaptation based its twist on the fact that Fanny’s mother is also named Faith. She adds that the connective song, “I Do Like to be Beside the Seaside”, is also an invention of the Starz series:
“No part of the ending is from the books, save that Frances’s mother’s name was Faith.”
“They totally made up the [use of the song] ‘I Do Like to be Beside the Seaside’ in season 2 and re-used it here.”
Gabaldon lightly criticizes the reintroduction of Master Raymond (Dominique Pinon), saying the character could have been brought back more elaborately. Still, the author acknowledges the budgetary limitations of television:
“I agree that the ending of 716 is flat-out weird, partly owing to their (evidently) having exhausted their budget. They could have made a more convincing visitation by Master Raymond with blurry special effects, rather than having him just walk through the door and stand there. Better to have kept it soft-focus and leave it up to question as to whether he’d actually been there, or perhaps Claire imagined or dreamed the whole thing. But easy for me to talk; I don’t have to figure out the logistics.”
“I’m frequently pleased that I can do things easily in a book, that are incredibly difficult [not to say expensive] to do in a visual medium. A book is a remarkably useful [and economical] way to tell a story.”
Gabaldon also shares that she conversed with Outlander showrunner and executive producer Matthew B. Roberts about her idea for how Faith might’ve survived and how it connects to Master Raymond:
“They actually did get the (general) idea from me, though. When chatting with [showrunner] Matt [Roberts] about All Things plot wise, I mentioned that if I had written a second graphic novel (I didn’t, for assorted reasons), I would have shown what actually happened after Faith’s presumed death at the Hopital des Anges, and how/why Master Raymond resuscitated and nurtured the baby secretly, but wasn’t able to come back with her before Claire and Jamie left France. So, they liked that idea and ran with it.”
What Outlander’s Book Change Could Mean
It’s Handled With Grace
The idea that Faith could have lived is briefly floated in the Outlander novels, though Jamie kindly shoots the idea down. It’s nothing quite like the season 7 finale, in which Jamie (Sam Heughan) learns from Claire that his daughter might have lived after all. The twist is handled beautifully. Claire comforts Fanny, who is mourning her sister Jane and struggling to reconcile the fact that Jane died protecting her.
There are little hints of the coming twist sprinkled throughout the finale, whether it’s Claire bonding with Fanny or even the significant amount of screen time that the young girl receives. The fact that she’s Claire and Jamie’s granddaughter changes everything, although there’s a lot to be revealed about what exactly happened. The author’s explanation favors the supernatural. But considering the Starz series has already charted its own path with this storyline, that will likely continue going into the upcoming final season of Outlander.
Our Take On The Faith Twist
TV Shows Should Be Their Own Thing
Some fidelity to the novels can be useful for book adaptations. But it can be argued that it’s even more important for shows to go in their own direction. In this case, it adds a level of unpredictability that will make the eighth and final season of Outlander all the more exciting to watch.