The long-awaited second half of Outlander’s penultimate season brings Claire and Jamie to back to Scotland
Time travel is truly not for the faint of heart. Every time you think 20th-century surgeon Claire (Caitríona Balfe) and her 18th-century highlander Jamie (Sam Heughan) will find peace and quiet to nurture their relationship and growing family, a violent obstacle is thrown their way. Last we saw the time- and star-crossed lovers, it was the American Revolutionary War that was posing the greatest threat to their well-being. However, as the second part of the seventh season premieres, Claire and Jamie are temporarily placing American independence into the hands of others as they journey back to home turf.
The return to Scotland, after having become American settlers, is an emotional full circle moment for the characters. “It’s a triumphant return and a bittersweet time in Scotland,” teases executive producer Maril Davis about the hard truths Claire, Jamie and Young Ian (John Bell) are facing. For Ian, in particular, reuniting with his parents Ian (Steven Cree) and Jenny (Kristin Atherton, taking over from Laura Donnelly) is a real time for reflection. “He’s like, ‘Where is my heart now?’ ” says Bell. “He has this new love [in America], but family’s family and I think he feels a real draw to stay there. The big question for him is, ‘Do I look into the past or do I look forward?’ Hopefully he finds those answers in Scotland.”
Also experiencing turmoil at Lallybroch, albeit 200 years later, are Brianna (Sophie Skelton) and Roger (Richard Rankin), whose son Jeremy was kidnapped by Brianna’s nefarious colleague Rob Cameron (Chris Fulton). Roger and Cousin Buck (Diarmaid Murtagh), the illegitimate son of Dougal McKenzie and Geilis Duncan, decide to travel back in time for Jemmy, but stone-travel being an inexact science, at best, the two end up somewhat sidetracked. “He misses the mark entirely,” says Rankin. “If Brianna finds out that Roger thought of the wrong Jemmy when he was going back, I feel like he’d be in big trouble.”
Experiencing the kind of distress Brianna currently is, her husband’s wrong historical turn is probably better left for later. “It’s just so gutting,” Skelton says of her character’s state of mind. “Brianna has always been quite guarded, and her ability to trust people has been an exceedingly jarring journey. With someone like Cameron, she finally is like, ‘OK, we’ve had the misogyny chat, I think we’re pals,’ and then he goes and kidnaps her child. Even with all the stuff Bree’s been through, I think that really takes the biscuit. She’s annoyed at herself — and now she might have lost her husband and a kid.”
As the seventh season was at one point thought to be the series’ last, the combination of three books by series originator Diana Gabaldon means that the latter half of the season offers some quick turns. “Seven B is one of my favourite seasons to date, because there’s so much that happens,” says Davis. “It’s such a rollercoaster ride. Jamie and Claire go through a tumultuous time. William (Jamie’s illegitimate son, played by Toronto native Charles Vandervaart) has quite an awakening. All our characters are put through the wringer and it’s quite an emotional season.”
For the two leads, it is not the edge-of-your-seat plot points that have the most resonance. After playing Jamie and Claire for over a decade, Heughan and Balfe have truly come to cherish the evolution of a relationship that despite its difficulties always finds the love at the core. “It’s been really interesting,” says Balfe. “We met this couple who got married before they even knew each other, and it was a real power struggle within the relationship because they were trying to find their footing. I don’t think either of them have lost their stubbornness or feistiness, but there has been a softening. It’s been lovely, finding out, ‘What has softened about them? Where do they still challenge each other? Where have they learned about each other better to better support each other?’ ” Regarding the sex scenes that once put the show on the map, Heughan recognizes how an industry change — the addition of an intimacy coordinator — has allowed the characters to meaningfully evolve in that realm as well. “She’s really helped us dig even deeper into what a healthy sexual relationship could be in later years,” he reveals.
With only the eighth season of this epic love story left to air, the impact Outlander has had — not just on the careers of Balfe and Heughan, but on the Scottish television industry — is becoming clearer by the day. “Scotland has been a huge character of the show,” says Heughan. “And it’s been incredible for Scotland. There were no studios in Scotland and now there are multiple. And I think we’ve also benefited from shooting here, having access to these great locations, to the castles, to the tangible history. There’s a pride in it. I think the crew takes pride in representing Scotland. I certainly do.”
Outlander airs Monday, December 2, on W Network