Sam Heughan welcomes back old cast members to Outlander season 8, "our strongest season yet"

Although it's still a ways off, Outlander fans are having to get used to the fact that the final season of their favorite time-traveling romance show is approaching. We still have the second half of season 7 to get through — that starts in November — but after that, it's the eighth and final season and then...nothing.

Well, there is a prequel series in the works, but more on that later. For now, we're enjoying video visits that stars like Sam Heughan (Jamie Fraser) are posting from the set. For instance:

"There are so many mixed emotions, I don’t know if I have the words to describe how it feels to be finishing this journey but I’m so very happy to be back with our incredibly hard working cast and crew," Heughan wrote. "It’s going to be our strongest season yet!"

In another video, Heughan and Caitriona Balfe (Clare Fraser) welcome back a couple of actors that fans haven't seen in a while: Lauren Lyle and Cesar Domboy, who play Marsali and Fergus Fraser respectively. "We thought we got rid of you!" Heughan jokes saying he's glad they're back.

New actors join Outlander prequel series Blood of my Blood

Now let's talk about that prequel series again. As we speak, Starz is filming Outlander: Blood of My Blood, a show that will explore how the parents of Jamie and Claire Fraser got together. In 18th century Scotland, we'll see a romance develop between Brian Fraser (Jamie Roy) and Ellen MacKenzie. Meanwhile, in World War I-era London, we'll meet Claire's parents when they were young: her mother Julia Moriston will be played by Hermione Corfield and her father Henry Beauchamp by Jeremy Irvine.

Deadline reports on several new actors joining the cast, including:

• Brian McCardie as Isaac, the leader of Clan Grant
• Jhon Lumsden is Isaac's son Malcolm, a potential suitor for Ellen MacKenzie
• Sara Vickers as housekeeper Davina Porter, Brian Fraser's mother
• Peter Mullan as Red Jacob MacKenzie, Laird of Clan MacKenzie and father to Ellen, Dougal, Colum, Janet and Jocasta

We don't have release date for Outlander: Blood of My Blood yet, to say nothing of Outlander season 8, but we can probably expect them both sometime in 2025.

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