In just over a month, Outlander will return on Starz for the second half of its seventh season, and the network is getting people hyped by releasing the new opening credits, which once again feature a rendition of "The Skye Boat Song" as sung by late Irish singer Sinéad O'Connor. Check the out above!
The opening titles may contain a hint of a plotline yet to come, according to our sister site Claire & Jamie. There's a brief shot of a man in a British army uniform holding a woman's hand. Claire & Jamie thinks this may be William Ransom, the illegitimate son of Geneva Dunsany and Jamie Fraser, and Jane, a new character introduced in Written in My Own Heart's Blood, the eighth book in Diana Gabaldon's Outlander series. In that book, Jane is an American woman who takes to prostitution to feed herself and her orphan sister Fanny. William forms a connection with her during an emotionally turbulent time in his life.
The second half of Outlander season 7 is set to adapt the rest of An Echo in the Bone, the book before Written in My Own Heart's Blood, but it's always possible it will reach ahead a bit. At any rate, we know that William Ransom will play a part in the new episodes; star Caitriona Balfe (Clare Fraser) said as much to Entertainment Weekly. “There's a lot of the Fraser stubbornness, and then there's also a lot of the Grey reservedness,” Claire said of William, also referencing the man who raised him, Lord John Grey. “He's not an easy person to get to know necessarily, especially when he's not fully aware of who he is.”
Beware SPOILERS below for Outlander season 7 part 2
It sounds like Claire and William will have some interaction. William is stationed in Philadelphia, an important city during this time of history: the beginning of the American Revolutionary War. But at the end of season 7 part 2, Claire and her husband Jamie Fraser (Sam Heughan) were headed back to Scotland. So how do these two end up crossing paths?
Well, according to Balfe, Claire's time in Scotland will be short-lived. "Claire quite quickly has to leave again," she revealed. "She is needed back in the colonies. She gets a request to come and help somebody as only she can — the wonderful surgeon she is." That means that the Fraser family is once again separated. “When the Frasers are not together, things don't always go very well,” Balfe said. "This is not good. Claire believes an event happens, which is devastating."
"This is a very tricky time politically, and Claire has her loyalties and her allegiances. There may be a little bit of political intrigue and on top of everything else, she may or may not do some spying."
It sounds like Jamie will also make his way back to the American colonies sooner or later as well, according to Heughan: “History pulls them back,” he said. “We know that they can never avoid history and fate, and they're about to get entwined in more of the great upheaval, the American Revolution. They don't get to rest and have a peaceful time together for very long.”
Upheaval and turmoil are pretty standard for Jamie and Claire at this point. “The war has arrived and everybody is in danger, including Claire,” Balfe said. “And yet, there's also these new threads of family that have been discovered, which is very exciting and it opens up a whole mystery that then plays out in this season.” Heughan also hinted at some silver linings amidst the dark clouds: “ welcome homecomings, as old relationships and friendships are revisited or put to rest, and then new ones that are tested and broken as well."
As for the short-lived return to Scotland, both actors describe the experience as "bittersweet" for Jamie and Claire. We'll see what they mean when Outlander returns with new episodes starting on Friday, November 22 on Starz.
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