The eighth and final season of Outlander is in the can and will release...sometime, either later this year or early in 2026. Everyone wants to know how the time-traveling romance epic will end, but not even the cast members are sure, and they were on set.
“I don't even know the ending," star Caitriona Balfe (Clare Fraser) told Collider. "We've sort of filmed it in a couple of different ways, and [producer Matthew B. Roberts] is going to decide, which I think is great so I can't lie. But I think they're going to be satisfied. We brought a lot of people back. A lot of the story is explained. I hope they are anyway.”
I'm sure she could give away a little more than that, but I understand why she won't. However exactly the show ends, expect the tears to flow. At least, that's how it was for the actors. “Wrapping Outlander was very emotional," Balfe continued. "Everybody came to set, which was just very weird because they gave Sam [Heughan] and I a seven-page scene that was just full of dialogue to finish on, and yet the whole studio was full of execs and all the cast and everybody. So, there were lots and lots and lots of tears. I'm just very proud of the show and I'm excited for the fans to see it. I just hope we've done right by them.”
Heughan, who plays Clare's husband Jamie Fraser, agreed with her that filming the finale put the cast and crew through the ringer, whatever ends up actually happening. “I mean, look the whole of last year actually was very emotional. It was a very difficult one," he said on the Happy Sad Confused podcast. “I know why because we knew it was coming. Some days it just felt like another day on set. It was like, ‘Oh, this is what we’ve done for the last 11 years.’ And then other days you’re like, ‘This is the last time I will ever put on this garter or boot, or whatever it was.’ So it was like, ‘This is the last time I’ll be with this person.’ And there were a lot of goodbyes and the last day was very emotional.”
I have no doubt fans will be crying at home when this show ends, and they've only ever seen these characters on TV. The cast and crew have been up close and personal with this story for years, and it will be hard to let go of. “I've played Claire for 11 years. She's not going away," Balfe told The Standard. "She's in there. She's like a part of the DNA, and everyone that I've worked with are family now, so they don't go away either. So that's good. I think.”
Outlander prequel show coming this summer
There's some time yet before fans have to start mourning the loss of Outlander, and Starz is trying to ease the pain with a new spinoff series: Outlander: Blood of My Blood. This show will take place in two time periods: in the 18th century, we'll see how Jamie's parents met and fell in love. In the 20th century, we'll see how the same thing happened with Claire's parents. The time travel element may be gone, but we'll still get love stories that span centuries.
Outlander: Blood of My Blood will premiere on Friday, August 8 on Starz at 8:00 p.m. EST. If it's a hit, it'll be back for more seasons, making sure that Outlander fans have a place of refuge after the original series ends for good.
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