Outlander star Caitriona Balfe on how Claire and Jamie might end up

Outlander is very nearly back for another round of time-traveling romance, although its journey round the track won’t be quite as long as it usually is. The upcoming sixth season will have only eight episodes compared to the usual 12-13, although the show will make up for it in season 7, which will be a whopping 16 episodes long.

“What we did was we took the four episodes that we would have filmed [for season six] and we are now having them at the beginning of season seven, so season seven is going to be a 16 episode season,” star Caitriona Balfe (Claire Fraser) told Digital Spy. “I think in that way we are still able to do Outlander in the way we’ve always been able to do it, we take our time, we allow the story to unfold, we still have some great standalone episodes that are still a world within a world which is something I think we do quite well.”

"We have one that is very much like a Western, we have one which is a bit more like a horror again, and there is another one that is kind of like in – not the pandemic – but another kind of medical emergency that comes to the Ridge. I think our writers did a really great job of maintaining the scope and the scale of the show despite the different challenges we had filming it."

And season 6 will still pack in plenty of drama. You’ll remember that season 5 ended with Claire having survived a brutal assault. Coming back from that will be difficult. “What I loved is that we do see Claire unravel in a way that we have never seen before, and this kind of old coping mechanism that she has had of compartmentalizing everything and moving on just doesn’t serve her any more,” Balfe said. “It’s really interesting to be able to explore her in a new way, and be able to kind of take her on this new journey because you can’t expect a character or somebody to go through something like that and for it not to deeply, deeply, shake them to their core.”

"We see her make some steps on her recovery, and you know she may start looking at other avenues of how to mask the pain that she is in. But really I think it is a long journey for her to be able to get through it, but there is hope there and I am confident that everyone will see her in a much better place as we go through this season."

Here’s hoping.

Caitriona Balfe on Claire and Jamie: “I don’t think one can survive without the other”

So that’s the end of season 6. But what about the end of Outlander as a whole? We’re not sure how much longer the show will go on, although it still has a few more of Diana Gabaldon’s novels to adapt before it reaches the upcoming tenth (and presumably final) volume.

Apparently, Gabaldon has told Balfe’s costar Sam Heughan (Jamie Fraser) something about his character’s future, but only because he begged. “She has told Sam – I think she has told Sam something about his character, but then I think he is just really nosy and he badgered her!” Balfe said. “I’m quite happy to let the mystery live, and just find out when I need to find out.”

"I think I have always said that as long as the material continues to be challenging and the writing continues to challenge us, and there are new things for us to explore as actors, then that is all you want as an actor. What we know now is we have this great season seven picked up, and it is going to be 16 episodes, and we are all in a little way girding ourselves to have the stamina to be able to do that, because we will be shooting for 13 months pretty much, which is going to be really intense. So, to be honest, to think beyond that doesn’t really serve us – and those decisions are not in our hands anyway, so we’ll see!"

That said, of course Balfe has ideas for how the series might end…and apparently they’re pretty grim. “I think it has to be a Romeo and Juliet moment, right, where we are both together, or a Naoise and Deirdre moment where Jamie and Claire sort of lie down together and slowly drift off,” she said, referring to two sets of literary couples who died horribly. “I don’t think one can survive without the other and I don’t think Claire will leave him at all. Nobody is eternal, so at some point someone is going to have to croak it so they might as well do it together!”

Anything more optimistic? “Maybe they turn into turtles, something that lives for hundreds of years, and they travel together, under the sea – maybe that’s the end…” We’ll take that one.

Outlander season 6 kicks off this Sunday, March 6!

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