Series eight will be the drama’s last
Outlander’s executive producer Maril Davis has shared a new insight into what fans can expect from the season eight finale.
The popular drama is based on a book series by author Diana Gabaldon, who is still working on her tenth and final novel.
While Maril admitted that the show’s team doesn’t quite know “how the actual ending is going to be,” fans can expect some “surprises”.
Maril explained that the writers will communicate with Diana about the ending to make sure she is happy with it.
“We will of course run things by her, it will have to be slightly different, obviously, because she’s ending it and she hasn’t figured that out yet – what that is – and we’re going to have to end the TV show. I’m excited about it but we have a few surprises up our sleeve,” she told RadioTimes.com, adding: “It’s tough because we’re not finishing the book series, obviously there’s one more book. It’s tough to wrap it up before the books have wrapped. There’s so many things to track and figure out, we want a satisfying ending that’s not Diana’s ending obviously.”
The show is currently on hiatus following its mid-season seven finale and will take an extended break before the remaining episodes air.
In an exclusive interview with HELLO!, Maril explained that they had always intended for the show to have a break. “We certainly built it assuming it would [break] after the eighth episode,” she said. “I know it’s really hard for fans. I don’t know all of the reasons that these splits are done. But all I can say is buckle your seat belt. The wait will be worth it.
“It gives us more time to re-hash things! Honestly, Outlander is all about anticipation. Starting season one, the seven episodes it took to get Jamie and Claire to their marriage and, the anticipation of this season is with Jamie seeing his son William. Outlander is all about anticipation and that’s what Droughtlander is about too!”
As for when season seven will return to our screens with its last batch of episodes, Maril said that the decision isn’t hers to make. “I get a lot of questions about this online and unfortunately, this is completely out of my hands, it’s more of a STARZ decision and they obviously have their reasons for doing it, that’s a little above my pay grade!” she explained.
“We just go in and we do what we’re told, we weren’t told in the beginning that there would be a break although we imagined there would be, there was probably going to be, but didn’t know for sure.”
When will Outlander season eight air?
Unfortunately, it could be a while before season eight arrives due to the ongoing writers’ strike. Back in June, Caitríona Balfe, who plays Claire Fraser, said that filming was due to begin in the coming months but had been delayed due to the industrial action.
Maril also shared an update during her interview with HELLO!. “We’re just on hold at the moment,” she said. “We were in the writers’ room for season eight and the prequel, and now everything’s on hold. I hope it gets resolved quickly.”
