Starz' Outlander series will end with the upcoming Season 8, but fans should not worry, as the time-traveling romance may still have a few tricks up its sleeve.
The hit TV series, based on Diana Gabaldon's series of Outlander novels, has run for 10 years on Starz.
Since its beginning, Outlander has told the story of a 20th-century World War II nurse named Claire Randall who is transported back to the 1700s, where she falls in love with Highland warrior Jamie Fraser.
5 Confirmed Details About Outlander Season 8
Outlander Season 8 Is the Last Season
Sadly, for fans of the series, Outlander Season 8 will be its last.
After 10 years on Starz, the show will close with this latest batch of episodes, as it has run through the entire series of Outlander novels released up to this point.
Speaking at New York Comic Con to Collider, series executive producer Maril Davis commented on bringing the series to an end, saying, "We are ending [the show] the way we are," despite it not being a straight adaptation of an end series author Diana Gabaldon would have thought of:
"We are ending [the show] the way we are, we just wanted to be respectful of not ending it the way maybe the way she [Gabaldon] would."
Gabaldon replied, revealing her reaction to the ending, "It was interesting… I was not upset by it:"
"It was interesting… I was not upset by it. It was not something I wrote, so I'm very objective about it. It was well done, I think it will work very nicely."
She then teased that her version of the ending (which will seemingly come in the book series' upcoming 10th novel) will have "a very much more complicated end than the show will."
Does Outlander Season 8 Have a Release Date?
As of writing, Outlander Season 8 does not have an official release date, but some indicators point to when it will air.
As of September 2024, Outlander had completed filming, wrapping up production that started in March.
One must remember that Outlander Season 8 is not the most imminent release for the series on the horizon. Season 7, Part B is set to premiere on Friday, November 22 and is planned to run through January 2025.
Because of this, one can assume there will be a bit of a gap between releases as Starz tries not to flood the market with Outlander content. A release date for Season 8 sometime in late 2025 makes the most sense.
11 Cast Members Are Confirmed for Outlander Season 8
Fans nervous that Outlander will shake things up cast-wise in its final season need not fret.
11 of the biggest names attached to the series have been confirmed to return. This news came via an Instagram post from the official Outlander account, which posted images of the show's primary cast standing with a clapboard saying that Season 8 had wrapped filming.
That means series protagonists Claire Fraser (Caitríona Balfe) and James "Jamie" Fraser (Sam Heughan) will once again lead the way. They will be back to write one more chapter in their time-traveling love story.
Claire arrived in the series as a World War II-era nurse who was miraculously transported back in time to the 1700s. This is where she met Highland warrior James, eventually falling in love and getting married to the 18th-century brute.
Below is a list of confirmed cast members returning for Outlander Season 8:
- Caitríona Balfe - Claire Fraser
- Sam Heughan - James "Jamie" Fraser
- Sophie Skelton - Brianna "Bree" Fraser MacKenzie
- Richard Rankin - Roger MacKenzie
- David Berry - Lord John Grey
- John Bell - Ian Fraser Murray
- Charles Vandervaart - William Ransom
- Izzy Meikle-Small - Rachel Hunter
- Lauren Lyle - Marsali MacKimmie Fraser
- César Domboy - Fergus Claudel Fraser
- Diarmaid Murtagh - Buck Mackenzie
Outlander Season 8 Will Be Based on Go Tell the Bees That I Am Gone
Fans looking to get ahead in the Outlander story can do so thanks to Diana Gabaldon's hit series of romance novels.
Season 8 is set to be based on the ninth book in Gabaldon's Outlander book series, Go Tell the Bees That I Am Gone.
That book follows Claire and Jaime after they settle in North Carolina, America, amid the American Revolution. Jamie has taken a step back from his post in the Continental Army but knows his brief respite of peace can only last for a short time, as the call of duty will eventually bring him back to the battlefield.
This comes as Jamie's son, William, continues searching for his cousin, Ben, who has been missing for some time.
This culminates in Jamie being called back to the battle and sustaining severe injuries while at war. While he is resumed dead, Claire essentially wills him back to life (using what seems to be a form of magick).
The book ends on a cliffhanger, with Jaime and Claire in the middle of a land dispute over their North Carolina settlement and debating about leaving the area in the wake of their recent trauma.
Of course, this will likely not be how Season 8 ends, as it would not make sense for the show's series finale to end with loose ends.
The Outlander Franchise Will Continue After Season 8
Just because the mainline Outlander series is coming to a close does not mean the franchise will be gone forever.
It has already been confirmed that an Outlander prequel spin-off is in the works at Starz.
According to Collider, the series will be titled Blood of My Blood and will be released in 2025. It will focus on Jaime and Claire's parents' love stories across two different timelines.
The series will star Hermione Corfield and Jeremy Irvine as Claire's mother and father, Henry and Julia, and Harriet Slate and Jamie Roy as Jamie's parents, Ellen and Brian.
Outlander Season 8 is set to debut sometime in 2025.
