Final season of Outlander is on hold, Caitriona Balfe confirms

The upcoming seventh season of Outlander premieres this week. Claire and Jamie Fraser will have to deal with the Revolutionary War, as well as Claire’s arrest for murder. And also time travel will factor in somewhere. And the whole season will be 16 episodes long. It’s gonna be big.

Season 7 is the penultimate season of the show. Season 8 will round things out, but we’ll have to wait longer than anticipated to see it. That’s because, according to star Caitriona Balfe, the Hollywood writers strike is delaying production on the final season.

“Well, we had a date,” Balfe told Radio Times when asked when filming was due to start. “And now with the writers strike, who knows? So we have to just wait and see.”

"That’s obviously a big thing that’s going on at the moment Stateside and that may change things. But you know, it’s too early to start speculating about that."

Hollywood writers are currently striking in hopes of getting higher pay, better working conditions, regulations on the use of AI, and more. The longer the strike goes on, the longer we may go without new scripted TV, so let’s hope the parties come to an equitable solution soon.

Caitriona Balfe: “It’s going to be sad” when Outlander is over

Maybe the delay can help people savor the show a bit more, because it sounds like Balfe is already getting emotional about the end. “It’s been amazing. It’s really strange thinking that this time next year or whatever, it’ll be finished and that’ll be it, it’ll be a chapter done in my life. I’m going to definitely struggle with that because it’s been so great. It’ll be sad to say goodbye to it.”

"It’s bittersweet, it really is. I think, in some ways, I feel like we’ve said as much as we can say with these characters and we’ve sort of brought them to this point in their lives where it feels like it’s the right time to say goodbye to them. I think having season 8 will give us a real opportunity to sort of finish it properly.But at the same time, it’s going be so sad. I’ve loved playing this character, I’ve loved being on this show, I love my co-workers. Most of our crew has been with us since day one."

Outlander season 7 premieres on June 16.

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