Sam Heughan Drops Major ‘Outlander’ Finale Clue: ‘I Know Diana’s Ending’
Sam Heughan revealed they would be filming multiple endings to the STARZ series on a set visit to Scotland for the final day of shooting.
Key Points
- Season 8 will be the TV series’ final season, with multiple possible endings filmed.
- Key plot points from Diana Gabaldon’s novels will influence Season 8’s storyline, including new conflicts.
- Sam Heughan believes the show’s enduring appeal is its archetypal love story and great writing.
With Season 8 of Outlander being the final season of the TV series, there’s a big question on the minds of fans of the series who also read the novels written by bestselling author Diana Gabaldon that began it all. How much will the end of the series resemble the end of the story that Diana is writing in the as-yet-unreleased book 10 in the franchise?
We know for a fact that Sam Heughan, who stars as Jamie Fraser, is one of two people who were shown the ending by Diana—the other is executive producer Maril Davis, but neither of them are in the writers room.
“I know Diana’s ending,” Sam said. “We won’t get all the books done, obviously. We’re only Season 8 and she’s still writing. What I believe is there are going to be multiple endings and we will choose one eventually. We’re going to shoot various endings, but I don’t know which one they’ll use. One of the ideas I’ve been asking for or pushing for is very similar to the way Diana’s book will end.”
That said, key things that will happen in Season 8 will be adapted from Diana’s novels, and Sam did tease some of what we can expect to see.
“We have a new presence on the Ridge,” Sam said. “Jamie and Claire [Caitríona Balfe] have come back to the Ridge and there’s a character called [Captain Charles] Cunningham. There’s a bit of a power struggle over supremacy on the Ridge. Jamie gets into a bit of a scrap with him, but that’s a big spoiler, towards the end. It’s really fun because the enemy is coming from inside the Ridge.”
Having played Jamie for such a big part of his life, Sam knows there are things he will miss about the hot Scot now that he’s done donning his kilt, but he says he needs more time to figure those out. He won’t really know until he leaves him behind, which he can’t do completely until doing publicity for this season is over.
“I can feel myself remembering things that I used to do before I played Jamie,” he says. “My life kind of went on hold a little bit, or it took a different direction shall we say, coming to Scotland again and living here. When we finish the show, there’s going to be a new beginning for me. But it’ll be very sad. I shall miss the kilt. It’s nice to see it back.”
Also, in looking back Sam ventured a guess at what it was about Outlander that struck a chord with the viewing public to the point that it developed into such a hit, award-winning series.
“I think it’s this love story that people yearn for,” he says. “I’ve been speaking to other networks and they’re all looking for a story like this and they can’t find one. They all want it. As much as we think we’re in a modern age and whatever, still these archetypes of eternal love, we’re all seeking it, we all want it. I think that’s the heart of it. It’s also great writing and some really interesting characters.”
Outlander is set to premiere on Friday, March 6 at midnight ET on the STARZ app, all STARZ streaming and on-demand platforms. New episodes are available to stream weekly on Fridays at midnight on the STARZ app and all STARZ streaming and on-demand platforms.
