[Warning: The below contains MAJOR spoilers for Season 6, Episode 8 of Outlander, “I Am Not Alone.”]
Outlander‘s sixth season has ended and with it a new cliffhanger that wasn’t originally intended to serve as a finale closer.
Ahead of the Starz hit’s latest return, Outlander was originally supposed to include 12 full episodes in its sixth season, but due to Covid-safety constraints among other factors, the run was cut down to eight episodes. Fret not, fans, because Season 7 is already shaping up to be a super-sized affair as the four episodes that didn’t make it to screens this season will serve as the next chapter’s first few installments.
When it comes to the Season 6 finale, executive producer Maril Davis wants to clarify that it was always the episode that it was intended to be, even before it was designated as the season closer. “This was always meant to be the eighth episode. We had originally intended to do 12 and had the whole season sketched out and actually had scripts already mostly done,” she explains.
(Credit: Starz)
“Eight just seemed like a perfect place to end it,” Davis says, adding, “It was also as far as we felt we could go, so we got very, very lucky that eight ended on a cliffhanger.” The cliffhanger that Davis is referring to is Claire (Caitriona Balfe) and Jamie’s (Sam Heuhgan) separation from one another as Richard Brown (Chris Larkin) had the couple forcibly removed from one another and carted off in different directions.
While Jamie was intended to be sent on a ship back to Scotland, his nephew Ian (John Bell) and several of the Cherokee aided in freeing him and killing his captors. Meanwhile, Claire was taken to Wilmington where she was thrown in a jail cell to await a trial for allegedly killing Malva Christie (Jessica Reynolds). As to when viewers can expect the perfect pair to reunite, Davis says, “that’s such a spoiler.” But even if she can’t give fans an exact time and date for the Frasers’ eventual reunion in Season 7, Davis says, “I don’t think you’ll have to wait too long, but I can’t tell you exactly how long.”
In regards to some of Season 6’s other mysteries or cliffhangers, such as that mystery time traveler who was last seen in a jail cell in Episode 5 or the identity of Malva’s killer, Davis promises, “we’ll find out those answers in Season 7, for sure.”
(Credit: Starz)
And apart from unanswered questions, Davis is also opening up about the finale’s epic shootout at Fraser’s Ridge. “This is one of my favorite episodes,” she admits. “I think it’s so emblematic of the season. We talk a lot about Jamie and Claire and what happens when your home turns against you?”
“The first time I saw a cut, I just knew this was going to be a great episode,” Davis continues. “And I just love Jamie and Claire shooting out from every window and Claire coming around the corner with a shotgun. It’s such a kick-ass episode, and it’s such a great way to end the season.”
Even with the shootout between the Frasers and the committee of safety, there were plenty of great quiet moments for Jamie and Claire as well. “Some of those are moments from the book that we want to include,” Davis shares. “It’s a time of reflection. And they talk about what would their last meal be. His nine lives. It’s a great moment to reflect on what they have, what they’ve been through.”
(Credit: Starz)
As Jamie and Claire reflect on their situation and the moments that lead them there, Davis notes, “one of the most poignant lines in this episode is when Claire says, ‘We have a lovely home.’ And she’s not just talking about the actual house, she’s talking about their whole life… they’re seeing their home physically and emotionally destroyed. And that’s just really devastating.”
On the not-so-emotionally-destroyed side of things, Brianna (Sophie Skelton) and Roger (Richard Rankin) had a rather joyful storyline heading into Season 6’s final moments. Along with seeking out Roger’s desire to become ordained in Edenton, he and Brianna discover that Jemmy is Roger’s biological son due to a birthmark found on the boy’s scalp.
Their apparent joy and blissful ignorance of Jamie and Claire’s situation was intentional though, Davis reveals.”That was purposely done because of where they’re going, and where we’re heading in Season 7, but we wanted to see them putting down roots in this time.” As viewers will recall, the young family attempted to return to the late 1960s/early 1970s in Season 5, but couldn’t as hard as they tried, and so they’re working on what their lives in the 1770s will look like.
(Credit: Starz)
“This whole moment with Jemmy and realizing that Jemmy is Roger’s and not Stephen Bonnet’s (Ed Speleers) is a moment from the book but happened in a different place,” Davis explains. “And we thought this was a great juxtaposition of the happy couple and the not-so-happy couple. Them being blissfully unaware of what was going on at the Ridge highlights the isolation of Jamie and Claire even more.”
Another dynamic present in the finale was that of Tom Christie (Mark Lewis Jones) and the Frasers, even more specifically, his dynamic with Claire. “Tom is such a conflicted character. He’s constantly torn between what he thinks is right, doing what he thinks is right, and deep down [what] he truly believes,” shares Davis. “He really does like Claire. I think he has a soft spot for her [and] deep down, he knows she didn’t do it and that she was trying to help Malva.”
Even with all of this knowledge and apparent compassion for Claire, Tom still sees to it that Claire is taken into custody. “An interesting thing about Tom [is] he’s very black and white. There’s a right, and there’s a wrong. There’s no gray area for him. And he truly does believe that whether she did it or not, Claire deserves a fair trial,” Davis says, explaining the reasoning behind Tom’s prominent presence on the Frasers’ road to Wilmington. “He doesn’t want to see her taken off by Lionel Brown and killed. And even though he doesn’t love Jamie, he’s very fair at the end of the day. So I think this is him doing the right thing.”
Viewers will have to wait and see how everything unfolds in Season 7 which is already in production, and while Davis can’t say much about the plot or progress, she does share, “this is the biggest season we’ve ever done, without a doubt. It covers so much terrain. I feel horrible for our poor production designer and our art department and costume and everyone else because we’ve never done such an epic season in terms of scope and storylines,” she admits, adding, “we have a few different storylines this season.”
Stay tuned for more on Season 7 as it continues to take shape at Starz, and settle in for the next Droughtlander, which will thankfully pass quicker than Claire and Jamie’s 20-year separation through time.
Outlander, Season 7, TBA, Starz
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