The season 7 finale of Outlander, "A Hundred Thousand Angels," ended with some shocking twists. Easily the biggest was that Faith, Jamie and Claire Fraser's daughter, may be alive, even though we saw Claire sing to what appeared to be Faith's tiny lifeless body all the way back in season 2.
To be specific, Claire sang the song “Oh I Do Like to Be Beside the Seaside.” In the finale, Claire heard her and Jamie's new ward Fanny (Florrie May Wilkinson) sing this same song, a song that wasn't written until years after Fanny was born. And Fanny's late mother was also named Faith. That's what got the wheels turning for Claire.
"It’s such an interesting cliffhanger because it just opens up this whole other world of questions, which leads us so brilliantly into the next season," Outlander star Caitriona Balfe (Claire) told The Hollywood Reporter. "I think for Claire, it’s like her heart stops, her heart breaks and her heart sings — all at the same time."
Sam Heughan, who plays Jamie, weighed in as well. "It’s a huge moment for them to find out that their daughter potentially lived, and now they have this grandchild in their life," he said. "It’s a great cliffhanger — one that I think book and non-book fans are going to be surprised by. I think it was beautifully done with the song. It’s interesting because even playing [Faith’s death] way back in season two, we played the truth of it; we had no idea ourselves. So it was a shock for us as actors reading it and learning about it, as it was for the characters. I think the thought process for Jamie is, 'How is it possible?' The elation, the happiness that, actually, it could be possible. And then, who is this young girl in front of us right now?"
Of course, certain questions arise. Back in season 2, Faith appeared to be stillborn, and yet somehow she grew up, had a couple of daughters, and then died. As Heughan says, "How is this possible?" It might have something to do with the late apothecary Master Raymond (Dominque Pinon), who appeared to Claire in visions. But even if we find out how Faith survived, how is it that Faith heard the song “Oh I Do Like to Be Beside the Seaside” — a song that Claire only knew because she's from the future, mind you — once as a tiny baby and then remember it so well that she was able to teach it to her own kids?
Speaking to TV Line, producer Matthew B. Roberts gave the company line: wait for next season. "I’ll say that you’ll get all the answers in Season 8," he said. "Literally, why this was created this way, we took a little portion of something that was in the book, expanded it, and ran with it. And when we knew we were getting a Season 8, we knew that we could explain it in a very Outlander-y way of how everything was possible."
The notion that Fanny's mother Faith and Claire's late daughter Faith might have some kind of connection is brought up in Diana Gabaldon's Outlander books, but none of them have suggested a connection this concrete. But Roberts assures fans that if Gabaldon hadn't wanted the show to go in this direction it wouldn't have. "In the course of Outlander, Diana sees everything," he said. "She reads everything. And when we’re about to go down a big road, we’ve always… she’s a consultant on the show, so we consult with her and if Diana would’ve said that she didn’t want to go down that road, wished we didn’t go down that road, we would not have gone down the road."
Jamie and Claire and William and Lord John
While Faith is definitely the biggest question mark going into the eighth and final season of Outlander, the season 7 finale left a lot of balls up in the air. For instance, Jamie went apesh*t in season 7 after finding out that Claire had slept with his best friend Lord John Grey (David Berry), albeit under the most extraordinary of circumstances: both of them thought Jamie had died, and the whole thing was more of a grief-bang than anything. Lord John is gay, for heaven's sake.
But that didn't save Lord John from Jamie's wrath. "I think what Jamie did [to John upon learning what happened] — is it justifiable? No, from [the viewers’] point of view," Heughan mused. "But for Jamie, probably. But what he did to him is horrific and certainly has broken their bond. John Grey comes back and does justify it, and I think we hope that they will become friends again, but I think it’d be a lot for them to get over. Jamie is going to have to admit his wrongdoing, and I think that’s probably the hardest thing for Jamie to do. It’s certainly put a rift in that relationship, and I’m sure for Claire and John Grey as well, it’s also a pretty weird situation."
Roberts concurred that things between Jamie and John are not alright: "Well, I think it’s pretty accurate to say that I don’t think Jamie’s entirely over [Lord John marrying and sleeping with Claire]. I think you might see something in Season 8. That wound gets reopened."
And then there's the matter of Jamie's illegitimate son William (Charles Vandervaart), who was raised by Lord John Grey and who only recently found out that Jamie was his biological father. "I think it’s great because you can see Jamie and his son are very similar; they both have that fire in them," Heughan said. "And without giving away spoilers, it’s definitely something that plays out a lot [going forward]."
Again, that's a relationship that requires a lot of upkeep. In the finale, William outright tells Jamie, "I'll never call you father." I guess things can only go up from there. "[I]t’s in some way him digging in saying, 'I’m not going to betray Lord John.' But that’s the journey we’re going to take in Season 8. We’ll see where that goes," Roberts said.
As for when we'll see that final season of Outlander, it could premiere as early as late this year. While we wait, a new prequel series called Blood of My Blood is on its way to Starz.
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