Outlander star Sam Heughan teases “the shortest season we’ve done”

Back in June, Outlander star Sam Heughan (Jamie Fraser) was on Alex Zane’s podcast Just The Facts, talking all about the sixth season of the series. Usually, a typical season of Outlander has around 12-13 episodes, but the sixth season — which airs in 2022 — will only have eight. But fret not, fellow fans: season 7 will have an extended season with 16 episodes.

This will be the show’s shortest season yet, but that does not mean it will be any less dramatic or emotional; Heughan has called it “small, but mighty.” After the events of the season 5 finale, I don’t see how it could be otherwise. “It’s the shortest season we’ve done, it’s only eight episodes but it’s potentially one of the hardest because we were shooting during a pandemic and there were a lot of factors involved that made it pretty difficult to shoot,” Heughan said.

Oh yeah, let’s not forget Scotland’s unpredictable weather throwing a wrench into things!

Sam Heughan on unplugging after Outlander season 6

After filming a very heavy and emotional sixth season, Heughan reflected on how he got out of that mindset and resumed normal life. It’s easier said than done.

"It really is a transitional moment and it’s very hard to switch off. For the first few days after shooting and completing a season of Outlander, you’re still on this hamster wheel of getting things done and everything. I came to London as I had a bunch of meetings and various things going on, suddenly it just dawned on me that I’m done."

He may be done for now, but with the season 6 premiere just months away, filming for the seventh season can’t be too far off!

These two characters won’t return for Outlander season 6

While Sam Heughan decompresses, fans can’t stop wondering about what we can expect from season 6, and who will be in it. It looks all the major cast members returned, including Heughan, Caitriona Balfe (Claire Fraser), Sophie Skelton (Brianna Fraser) and Richard Rankin (Roger Mackenzie).

We’ve also got three newcomers: Mark Lewis Jones as Tom Christie, and Alexander Vlahos and Jessica Reynolds as Tom’s children Allan and Malva respectively. Fans of Diana Gabaldon’s Outlander books know that the addition of the Christie family will shake things up at Fraser’s Ridge, and I can’t wait to see it!

But there are two characters we haven’t seen in quite a while: Jenny (Laura Donnelly) and Ian Murray (Steven Cree), Jamie’s sister and brother-in-law. And according to executive producer Matthew B. Roberts, we won’t see them in season 6 either. “I think quite a bit is on the actor and their teams, so to give two examples Laura and Steven, they had bigger parts in season 1 and the story dictated that we went away from their characters, so to retain them over eight years was just impossible to do for us and also for them,” he said on the official Outlander podcast.

"They’re both very successful actors who’ve gone onto different things, different shows, different plays. And so for them, themselves they would want to do other things so we can’t just option them for the rest of their career thinking we might use them later on the show."

I’m glad Cree has a sense of humor about it all:

Those of us hoping that the Murrays would trek across the seas to live with the family in America or that the Frasers would abandon Fraser’s Ridge and go back to Lallybroch will be disappointed. But that’s alright, because these characters and the amazing actors who played them are forever sewn into the fabric of the story and live on through their son Ian Murray (John Bell), who currently lives on Fraser’s Ridge.

And with that, the countdown to end this Droughtlander begins! is it early 2022 yet?

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h/t Showbiz Cheat Sheet, Hello Magazine