‘Outlander’ Stars Tease Epic Battles, Claire’s Ties to Other Men & More in Season 7
The stars and creatives of Outlander got candid about Season 7 with TV Insider on the red carpet for the show’s premiere at the Tribeca Film Festival on Friday, June 9.
Caitriona Balfe, Sam Heughan, and the rest of the gang are sharing what they’re most excited for fans to see onscreen this season when the show returns to Starz, and the answers may surprise you. As viewers will recall, Claire (Balfe) and Jamie (Heughan) ended Season 6 on quite a cliffhanger as she remained imprisoned for the alleged murder of Malva Christie (Jessica Reynolds). Meanwhile, Jamie was rescued by his nephew Young Ian (John Bell), as Richard Brown (Chris Larkin) planned to have him shipped off to Scotland and away from Claire.
Only the show’s upcoming premiere will reveal what’s to come, but Balfe’s excitement for the season stems from the relationships Claire is having with other men. Yes, you read that right, other men. “There’s some stuff I can’t really talk about, but I will say some of the new characters that are coming in are really amazing,” Balfe muses, calling out Joey Phillips, Izzy Meikle-Small, and Charles Vandervaart. “I would say there’s some certain stuff with Claire and other men, not always Jamie,” she adds that she’s excited about.
(Credit: TV Insider/Meaghan Darwish)
“And I think fans are gonna be very shocked, and it’s not just one,” she clarifies. “I’m really lighting a match there,” she adds with a laugh.
As for Heughan, he’s excited about the epic-ness of the Revolutionary War setting and hints at twists to come. “It’s a bumper season,” he declares. “There’s a lot that happens this season, and honestly, we’ve all said it’s very epic.” Further explaining what fans can anticipate, he says, “The first [episode] kind of ties up a lot of the Season 6 storylines. And then [Episode] 2 really turns everything on its head.” In other words, keep a lookout for Episode 2.
Executive producer Maril Davis also calls out Episode 2, noting that there’s a scene in the installment titled “The Happiest Place on Earth” that’s “between Jamie and Brianna. And I’m excited for people to see that scene.” Davis remained mum otherwise, avoiding any potential spoilers for the season.
Speaking of Brianna (Sophie Skelton), though, Jamie and Claire’s daughter is coming into her own this season, and Skelton says, “I’m really excited for them to see the woman that Brianna has become. I’m so proud of her.” Having played the character from age 16 in flashbacks in previous seasons to the current timeline in the series, Skelton can’t help but marvel over her character’s journey.
(Credit: Starz)
“She has children now. She’s such a good mother, she has such a good sense of self, and she’s always been such a loyal and caring person, but I feel like that maybe used to come out in a hotheaded manner. Now I think she’s really learned to assess the situation, before jumping in and calculate in a healthy way.”
Season 7 will include 16 all-new episodes, but they’ll be split into two halves, with the first eight arriving this summer and the back half dropping sometime in 2024. Don’t fret on the storyline front, though, as Richard Rankin, who plays Brianna’s husband, Roger, promises, “Season 7’s got so much in it. It’s so action-packed that there’s a point in the story where you’ve just got like half a dozen major storylines running at one time… Fans are gonna love it.”
As for David Berry‘s Lord John Grey, a lot of change is on the horizon, according to the actor, who gets candid about impending misery. “I’m really excited for people to see Lord John in misery. He’s gonna be completely miserable this season. He’s gonna get kicked to rock bottom and then kicked in the nuts while he’s down there. He’s gonna have to let go of all his deportment, his style. He’s going to be a person that you haven’t seen before.”
For those that may need a refresher, Lord John Grey is the adoptive father of Jamie’s biological son, William Ransom (Vandervaart). Their secret arrangement could get dicey as William intends to enter the war on the side of the Red Coats. Considering Jamie and Lord John’s differing stances on the war, tensions are surely on the horizon, and Berry’s words only serve to confirm it.
“We’ve been, we’ve been teasing this for a few seasons now, and it’s finally here,” Vandervaart says of the Revolutionary War. “It’s gonna be massive.”
War or no war, star John Bell is teasing Young Ian’s fighting spirit this season. “I’m excited for them to see Young Ian kick some serious ass, yeah. He ain’t messing around this season. This is Ian’s final form. He ain’t here to play no games. He’s gonna take out the trash.” See what else the stars are teasing, including comments from Phillips, Meikle-Small, and author Diana Gabaldon in the full video above, and don’t miss Outlander when it returns to TV this summer.
Outlander, Season 7 Premiere, Friday, June 16, 8/7c, Starz
