Outlander stars Sam Heughan and Caitriona Balfe name their favorite (and least favorite parts) parts of new season

Outlander has at long last returned for the second half of its seventh season! The premiere episode is available to watch right now on the Starz app, and will air on Starz proper tonight.

The new episodes will take Jamie and Claire Fraser (Sam Heughan and Caitriona Balfe) back to Jamie's homeland of Scotland, but the cast and crew have made no secret of the fact that the couple will eventually have to separate, something they've done before. Speaking to SheKnows, both actors named the separation as the most distressing part of the new half-season. “Nothing good happens when they are apart,” Balfe said.

As for the best part of the new season, Heughan is excited for us to watch the final two episodes. "There's so much that happens. It's probably one of the most dramatic parts of the season," he said. "I really love the last two episodes. It's so beautifully shot..There's this angelic thing going on, [a] heavenly feeling to it...It's not giving away too much, but it's very beautiful and dramatic."

Incidentally, the season 7 finale is entitled "A Hundred Thousand Angels," which sounds in keeping with Heughan's comment about it having a "heavenly feeling." We'll have to wait until January to learn the specifics, but Balfe is in agreement that we're in for a treat. "Where we shot all of that last sequence was very beautiful, it felt very special," she said. "We got to have some old friends come back, and that was also very cool."

Sam Heughan and Caitronia Balfe preview Outlander season 7, part 2...and beyond

For seven seasons now, Jamie and Claire have been the beating heart of Outlander, the couple with a love so great not even centuries of time can separate it. Fans have grown attached to their bond, and to the one between Heughan and Balfe. But with the eighth and final season on the way (the cast and crew have already filmed it), fans have a limited time left with this unit.

"We're going through this sort of trial separation right now," Heughan joked. Balfe picked up that analogy and ran with it: “We’re consciously uncoupling,” she quipped.

But are they talking about Claire and Jamie separating, or Caitriona and Sam? “I mean, who knows where one starts and the other ends?" Balfe responded. I guess after playing these roles for a decade, the boundaries start to blur.

There are eight episodes in the back half of Outlander season 7. They'll drop Fridays on Starz.

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