For Outlander fans who have long longed for a Lord John Grey spinoff, David Berry, who plays the character in the original Starz series, has some insight to share.
As a refresher, the hit Outlander series, which will conclude its run with the upcoming eighth season, is based on the best-selling novels by Diana Gabaldon. She also authored a Lord John Grey series consisting of three novels and six novellas, which Starz CEO Jeffrey Hirsch has shown interest in expanding into a TV series of its own. There have been no major developments on that front yet.
Berry opened up about what transpired behind the scenes in a chat with Deadline earlier today while promoting the mothership series’ upcoming Season 7 Part 2 premiere on November 22 via Starz.
“I haven’t spoken about this. But I think that since the series is over, I feel a bit more comfortable talking about it,” Berry shared. “There was a time in Season 4 when we were going to shoot our Lord John series; it had been written— well, there was a writer attached and I’d signed a contract to do a series. It went down to the wire of whether or not it would get approved by the network, but ultimately, at the time, it was decided that that wasn’t the right fit, or wasn’t the right thing for them. I was prepared to do it, and I’m still prepared to do it,” he continued.
Even though the situation wasn’t right, Berry has hopes a Lord John Grey project could still happen one day.
“Matt [B. Roberts] and Maril [Davis], executive producers on Outlander, have also expressed a lot of interest in doing it. So I guess it really depends on finding a network for it and audience interest in moving forward and doing a spin-off. But definitely, it was something that was on the cards at one point. The fact that it didn’t go ahead was very disappointing at the time. But whether or not it will go ahead again, that’s really in the hands of the audiences, and whether or not there is still an interest in seeing more from this character,” Berry shared.
As with all things TV these days, it’s complicated.
What’s also complicated for Lord John is what’s ahead in the upcoming batch of episodes soon to be released. While I have been sworn to secrecy, we could say some of the biggest dramatic moments of the series featuring Grey alongside his friends Claire (Caitriona Balfe) and Jamie (Sam Heughan) still lie ahead. And for a little bit of extra spice, a lot is going on in the life of John and Jamie’s love child, William (Charles Vandervaart).
