Outlander Season 1
Outlander is a historical drama television series based on the Outlander novel series by Diana Gabaldon. Developed by Ronald D. Moore, the show premiered on August 9, 2014, on Starz. It stars Caitríona Balfe as Claire Randall, a former Second World War military nurse in Scotland who, in 1945, finds herself transported back in time to 1743. There she encounters, falls in love with and marries a dashing Highland warrior named Jamie Fraser (Sam Heughan), a tacksman of Gabaldon’s fictionalized version of Clan Fraser of Lovat. Here, Claire becomes embroiled in the Jacobite rising.
The 16-episode first season of the television series (released as two half-seasons) is based on the first novel in the series, Outlander. The second season of 13 episodes, based on Dragonfly in Amber, aired from April to July 2016. The 13-episode third season, based on Voyager, aired from September to December 2017. The 13-episode fourth season, based on Drums of Autumn, aired from November 2018 to January 2019. The fifth season of 12 episodes, based on The Fiery Cross, aired from February to May 2020. The sixth season of 8 episodes, based on A Breath of Snow and Ashes, aired from March to May 2022. The seventh season which consists of 16 episodes, is based on An Echo in the Bone and premiered on June 16, 2023.
By February 2022, development had begun on a prequel series titled Outlander: Blood of My Blood, which will focus on Jamie Fraser’s parents Brian and Ellen Fraser. In January 2023, Outlander: Blood of My Blood was officially confirmed for a ten-episode first season, and Outlander was renewed for a ten-episode eighth and final season.
Outlander Season 1
STORY
Episodes 01
“Sassenach”
In 1945, Claire Randall is a former WWII combat nurse visiting Inverness, Scotland, with her husband Frank, getting to know each other again after their wartime separation. Frank is researching his family history, in particular his 18th Century ancestor Jonathan “Black Jack” Randall. The morning after observing a modern Druid ritual at the standing stones on the hill of Craigh na Dun, Claire touches one of the stones, and wakes up lying on the ground. Soon she is in the middle of a skirmish between English redcoats and rebel Highlanders, and comes face to face with Frank’s double, Randall, who is captain of the Dragoons. A Scotsman rescues Claire and she meets Jamie Fraser. As they flee, she sets his dislocated arm and later treats his bullet wound. Claire is brought to Castle Leoch, and realizes that she has somehow traveled back in time.
Episodes 02
“Castle Leoch”
Claire is presented to Colum MacKenzie, laird of Castle Leoch, where she learns she has landed in 1743. After a while, she realises she is suspected of being an English spy. She meets Geillis Duncan, and witnesses Jamie doing a kindness for Laoghaire, the pretty young granddaughter of Mrs. Fitzgibbons. As Claire plans to return to Inverness and the standing stones, Colum decides it is best to keep her at Leoch, against her will, as healer to the clan.
Episodes 03
“The Way Out”
Claire hopes that her medical skills will earn her the trust of the MacKenzies, and her eventual freedom, but manages only to make herself indispensable. By saving Mrs. Fitzgibbons’s nephew from poisoning, which the fanatical Father Bain had declared as demonic possession, Claire makes a new enemy, and even though she earns some trust from the MacKenzies she is called a miracle-worker and is therefore presumed too valuable to let go. After she and Jamie collude to help a youth punished for stealing, Claire is given renewed hope of being able to travel home when she hears a folk tale about a time-traveller and the standing stones.
Episodes 04
“The Gathering”
Claire plots her escape during a clan gathering at Leoch, but Jamie convinces her that she would fail. Escorting her back, he finds himself in a dangerous position with Colum that he had been trying to avoid, but manages to make an oath of loyalty while manoeuvering himself out of trouble with his kinsman. Claire earns Dougal’s respect while tending a dying man on a boar hunt, and he decides to take her with him on his rent-collecting tour.
Episodes 05
“Rent”
Claire clashes with Dougal and his men on the rent-collecting journey, especially when Dougal uses Jamie’s scars to collect more money from the villagers. A young man, who would turn out to be a red coat, tries to “free” her from the Scots, unsuccessfully. Later, she realises that they are collecting funds for the prospective Jacobite army, an army they would use to achieve Scotland’s independence from England. Knowing from history that their cause is doomed, she tries to warn them off. The episode ends with the young red coat returning with more of his kin to retrieve young Claire from the Highlanders.
Episodes 06
“The Garrison Commander”
The redcoats take Claire to meet Brigadier-General Lord Thomas, who promises her safe passage to Inverness in the company of Black Jack Randall. When the General leaves, Randall tries to discover why she is in Scotland. She concocts a story and he describes in detail his vicious whipping of young Jamie. Dougal comes to take her away, but Randall insists that he has to deliver Claire to Fort William the following day. They leave, and Dougal tells Claire he does not have to turn her in if she marries Jamie and as a consequence becomes Scottish.
Episodes 07
“The Wedding”
Claire and Jamie marry to protect her from Randall, and try to get to know each other better afterwards to make the consummation less awkward. They realise their feelings for each other, but Claire is still torn thinking about Frank.
Episodes 08
“Both Sides Now”
In 1946, Frank is losing hope of finding Claire, but goes to the standing stones one last time. In the past, Claire finds herself nearby to the stones and runs for them. She hears Frank calling, and he hears her as well. But Claire is captured by English troops before she can reach the stones, and a despondent Frank leaves as she is taken to Fort William. Claire nearly talks her way out of being interrogated by Randall, but he turns the tables on her. Just as he is about to rape her at knifepoint, Jamie appears in the window.
Episodes 09
“The Reckoning”
Jamie saves Claire from Black Jack Randall, but the dynamic of their marriage is tested. Jamie tries to ease the conflict between Colum and Dougal sparked by Claire’s rescue. Jamie rebuffs a seduction by Laoghaire, who then leaves a bad luck charm under Claire and Jamie’s bed.
Episodes 10
“By the Pricking of My Thumbs”
Claire confronts a spiteful Laoghaire, but is surprised to learn that the charm came from Geillis. Jamie petitions the Duke of Sandringham for help to rid himself of Randall and the price on his head, while Claire secretly uses her historical knowledge to leverage his help in Jamie’s favour. Dougal is inconsolable after his wife’s death from an illness, but Geillis, pregnant with his child, is pleased. When Geillis’s husband dies at a banquet for the Duke, Claire realises that Geillis poisoned him. Colum forbids Dougal from pursuing a relationship with Geillis, exiling Dougal to his estate with Jamie in tow. Claire and Geillis are arrested for witchcraft.
Episodes 11
“The Devil’s Mark”
Claire and Geillis face charges of witchcraft. Ned Gowan comes to their defence, but witnesses, including Laoghaire and Father Bain, testify against them, and they are found guilty. Before Jamie can fight his way out of the courtroom with his wife, Geillis confesses and exonerates Claire. Claire recognises from the smallpox vaccine scar on Geillis’s shoulder that she too is from the future; 1968 to be exact. Geillis is taken to be burned at the stake. When Jamie asks Claire about her scar, she tells him of her time travel. He believes her, takes her back to Craigh na Dun, and wishes her well in returning to her own time. But Claire decides not to go back.
Episodes 12
“Lallybroch”
Jamie takes Claire to his family home of Lallybroch, where he clashes with his strong-willed sister Jenny. Taking up his role as laird, he disrupts the household until Claire sets him straight. After Jamie narrowly avoids a run-in with passing redcoats, he and Jenny make amends.
Episodes 13
“The Watch”
The men of the Watch arrive at Lallybroch, and Jamie pretends to be a Fraser cousin. Claire realises that Jenny’s impending childbirth will be a dangerous, breech birth, but Jenny swears her to secrecy. The redcoat defector Horrocks appears, and threatens to reveal that Jamie has a price on his head unless Jamie pays him. Jenny’s husband Ian kills Horrocks. Coming clean to the Watch leader MacQuarrie, Jamie agrees to join their raid. Jenny gives birth to a daughter with Claire’s help. Meanwhile, the raiding party is ambushed, with Jamie captured by the redcoats.
Episodes 14
“The Search”
Claire and Jenny set out to find Jamie. They learn he has escaped his captors, and a newly-arrived Murtagh takes Claire on a journey to find him. Their plan is to have Jamie find them by touring the countryside with Claire as a singer called “The Sassenach”. They attract Dougal’s attention, and he tells them that Jamie has been recaptured and tried, and is awaiting execution at Wentworth Prison. Claire makes a deal with Dougal that she will marry him if she couldn’t save Jamie from execution. She then convinces three of Dougal’s men, including Willie, to help her rescue Jamie.
Episodes 15
“Wentworth Prison”
Randall appears at Wentworth Prison and tortures Jamie, seeking his submission. Meanwhile, Claire gets into the prison to save her husband. When Randall catches her, Jamie submits to rape by Randall in exchange for her freedom. Before she leaves, Claire “curses” Randall and tells him what will be the date of his death. When all seems lost, Murtagh comes up with a plan to rescue Jamie.
Episodes 16
“To Ransom a Man’s Soul”
Murtagh’s rescue is successful and Randall left for dead, but Jamie remains tortured by his ordeal. As Claire tends to his injuries, Jamie is tormented by memory of his rape and torture. He asks for Willie’s blade to end his life. Claire makes her “time traveler” confession to Father Anselm at the abbey and he absolves her. Claire convinces Jamie by reminding the promise he made when they got married and tells him that she will have him in any way that she can and if he wishes to die she will die with him. Murtagh accompanies them as they set sail for safety in France, where Claire hopes to meet Charles Stuart and somehow prevent the catastrophic Battle of Culloden. As they set sail, Claire tells Jamie that she is pregnant.
CAST
- Caitríona Balfe as Claire Fraser
- Sam Heughan as James “Jamie” Fraser
- Tobias Menzies as Frank Randall (seasons 1–4) and Jonathan “Black Jack” Randall (seasons 1–3)
- Graham McTavish as Dougal MacKenzie (seasons 1–2, 7) and William “Buck” MacKenzie (season 5)
- Duncan Lacroix as Murtagh Fitzgibbons Fraser (seasons 1–5)
- Grant O’Rourke as Rupert MacKenzie (seasons 1–3)
- Stephen Walters as Angus Mhor (seasons 1–2)
- Gary Lewis as Colum MacKenzie (seasons 1–2)
- Lotte Verbeek as Geillis Duncan a.k.a. Gillian Edgars (seasons 1–3, 7)
- Bill Paterson as Edward “Ned” Gowan (seasons 1, 3)
- Simon Callow as Clarence Marylebone, Duke of Sandringham (seasons 1–2)
- Laura Donnelly as Janet “Jenny” Fraser Murray (seasons 1–3)
- Douglas Henshall as Taran MacQuarrie (season 1)
- Steven Cree as Ian Murray (seasons 1–4, 7)
PRODUCTION
Development
In July 2012, it was reported that Sony Pictures Television had secured the rights to Gabaldon’s Outlander series, with Moore attached to develop the project and Jim Kohlberg (Story Mining and Supply Co) producing. Sony completed the deal with Starz in November 2012, and Moore hired a writing team in April 2013. That June, Starz picked up the Outlander project for a sixteen-episode order, and in August it was announced that John Dahl would be directing the first two episodes. Starz CEO Chris Albrecht later said that he had green-lit several genre projects, including Outlander, to shift the network’s series development toward “audiences that were being underserved” to “drive a real fervent fan base that then becomes the kind of advocacy group for the shows themselves”.
Calling it “a different kind of show than has ever been on, in my memory”, Albrecht believed that Outlander‘s combination of fantasy, action, a strong central romance and a feminist focus would set it apart. Another distinguishing feature of the show is its use of Scottish Gaelic. Àdhamh Ó Broin is the language consultant and Griogair Labhruidh sang in Gaelic on the second season’s soundtrack.
On August 15, 2014, after only the pilot episode had aired, the network renewed the series for a second season of at least thirteen episodes, based on the second book in Gabaldon’s series, Dragonfly in Amber. On June 1, 2016, Starz renewed the series for a third and fourth season, which adapt the third and fourth Outlander novels, Voyager and Drums of Autumn.
On May 9, 2018, Starz renewed the series for a fifth and sixth season, which adapt The Fiery Cross and A Breath of Snow and Ashes, respectively and each season to consist of twelve episodes.
On March 14, 2021, the series was renewed for a seventh season, originally to consist of 12 episodes and adapt the seventh novel, An Echo in the Bone. On June 1, 2021, Starz announced the sixth season would premiere in early 2022 with a shortened eight-episode season, while the seventh season would consist of 16 episodes. On November 22, 2021, Gabaldon announced that the sixth season would premiere on March 6, 2022.
In January 2023, the series was renewed for an eighth and final season to consist of 10 episodes. According to reports in August of the year, filming was delayed due to the 2023 Hollywood labor disputes. A start date had been set, but Balfe said there had been no confirmation as to when work would actually commence. The writer’s strike is “… obviously a big thing that’s going on at the moment Stateside and that may change things. But you know, it’s too early to start speculating about that”. There was some discussion as to how the series will conclude; Gabaldon was writing the final book but that was not expected to be ready in time for the conclusion to also be used for the series. Executive producer Maril Davis made this comment: “I think about it a lot, I think we’re going to do a great job and I have complete confidence in the writers, but we’ll see what happens. I’m really confident we’ll figure out a way to end it for ourselves”. Davis added that they did plan to discuss the proposed ending with the author before finalizing the scripts.
RELEASE
August 9, 2014
