When Outlander returns for its eighth and final season, one of Jamie’s nearest and dearest won’t be there to see it.
Jenny Fraser Murray, originated by Laura Donnelly and played most recently by Kristin Atherton, will not appear in Season 8, co-showrunner Matthew B. Roberts tells TVLine exclusively.
Viewers will recall that, after Ian Sr. died in Season 7, Jamie invited his grieving sister to come stay with him and Claire at their home in North Carolina. However, she declined the invitation. In Diana Gabaldon’s novels on which the Starz series is based, Jenny does accompany Jamie to America; she stays in Philadelphia with Fergus, Marsali and their family for a while before traveling to Fraser’s Ridge with Claire, Jamie, Young Ian, Rachel and Germain.
Given all of the story that the show wants to cover before it (sniff!) signs off forever, Roberts explains, the writers chose to focus on storylines from the book that had direct and major impact on Jamie and Claire’s arc. Unfortunately, that left Jenny back in Scotland.
“The brief was: Nothing that doesn’t affect Jamie and Claire gets in. It’s gotta affect Jamie and Claire. All the main characters do, so they’re a part of it. But that’s the drive,” he says. The novels’ winding plots are the type of thing, he adds, that “makes the books so readable and fun. But when you have 10 episodes, you have to stay literally on track.”
And when it came to Jenny’s transatlantic voyage, specifically? “Again, with 10 episodes,” Roberts reiterates, “there’s a lot less you can do.”
Starz has not yet announced a premiere date for Outlander‘s final season. However, the prequel series Outlander: Blood of My Blood, which follows the love stories of Jamie’s and Claire’s parents, will get underway this summer.
