Outlander was been renewed for an eighth season, some months before the TV show’s seventh season premieres this year. Starz, a premium cable and satellite TV network owned by Lionsgate, has confirmed that Season 8 will be the series’ last season.
While a release date for Season 8 has yet to be determined, speculations indicate that filming will begin in 2024 owing to scheduling conflicts with the primary actors. As a result, the last season is likely to debut around 2025.
Meanwhile, the seventh season is scheduled to premiere in the summer of 2023, which means the 16-episode season will air between June and September.
Surprisingly, even though Outlander is coming to a close, the Fraser family’s adventures will continue. That’s because, in addition to announcing the show’s renewal (and eventual cancellation), Starz’s original programming head Kathryn Busby also formally announced the show’s prequel series. According to rumors, the prequel, titled Outlander: Blood of My Blood, would follow the blossoming passion between Brian Fraser and Ellen MacKenzie, Jamie Fraser’s parents (Sam Heughan). Rumors about a prequel first surfaced in February of last year, and they were verified in August.
Season 8 of Outlander will be “thrilled to continue,” according to Starz producer Kathryn Busby.
While providing an update on Season 8’s ten episodes, Busby stated:
“For over a decade, Outlander has grabbed the hearts of people worldwide and we’re happy to bring Claire and Jamie’s epic love story to a dignified end. But, before we conclude this chapter, there is still much of their passionate narrative to tell over the course of 26 additional episodes, as well as much more to discover about this dynamic universe and its birth story. We’re excited to work with Matthew, Maril, and Ronald again and can’t wait to see where their captivating narrative leads us next.”
According to reports, the final season will be based on Diana Gabaldon’s eighth novel in the series, Written in My Own Heart’s Blood. The novella, published in 2014, takes place in June 1778, when Jamie Fraser “returns from the grave to learn that his closest buddy has married his wife.” The official summary of the book continues:
“To his surprise, the ninth Earl of Ellesmere realizes that he is the illegitimate son of the newly-resurrected Jamie Fraser (a rebel and a Scottish outlaw!)” and Jamie’s nephew Ian Murray realizes that his new cousin has a crush on his Quaker bridegroom.”
What is our current knowledge about Blood of My Blood?
Outlander: Blood of My Blood will contain ten episodes, with Matthew B. Roberts serving as writer and executive producer. The program, according to Roberts, is “at its core, a love tale.” He went on to say:
“It will investigate how far a person can go to discover love at a period when love is seen as a luxury and weddings are formed purposefully, frequently for political or financial advantage.”
The news doesn’t stop with Season 8. #Outlander: Blood of My Blood has been officially greenlit! https://t.co/knuMbE3K9f pic.twitter.com/eaUw4K3trN
— Outlander (@Outlander_STARZ) January 19, 2023
The planned series will be produced by Sony Pictures Television, Left Bank Pictures, Moore’s Tall Ship Productions, and Story Mining & Supply Company.
