Outlander: Here’s Why You Won’t See One of the Franchise’s Most Risqué Scenes Ever in Season 7

If you’re an Outlander novels fan looking forward to Jamie and Claire holding a — how shall we say this? — private garden party in the show’s upcoming season, we’ve got some disappointing news.

The subject at hand: a steamy scene that Diana Gabaldon’s readers have been fanning themselves over ever since An Echo in the Bone — aka Book 7 in the Outlander novel series — was released in 2009. The interlude finds Mr. and Mrs. Fraser suddenly enjoying some unexpected privacy in a secluded, walled garden. [Warning: As family-friendly-as-we-can-make-them descriptions of marital relations ahead.]

Claire wants to have sex with her husband, who is verra interested, yet not quite… ready. When she reaches for him, offering to help things along, he gently suggests that she keep her hands to herself, instead. So she does, then pauses to ask that he do the same. Jamie is flabbergasted.

“I couldna do that! In front of you?” Big Red says in the novel. Claire replies, “If I can do it in front of you, you can certainly return the favor.” Under the threat of the fun stopping abruptly, he eventually complies. If you’ve ever watched the show, you can probably infer how things progress from there.

Thing is, executive producer Maril Davis recently told TVLine, the series didn’t shoot the Frasers’ romp among the roses for Season 7, which premieres Friday (Starz, 8/7c) — and when we asked if maybe it would be part of the following/final season, Davis said, “Probably not.”

Allow her to explain. “Some of it was a location thing. You know, in the book, it’s a little — and I love the books — but it was hard to imagine that scene being pulled off,” she said. “And if you see our sets for [setting redacted because it’s a spoiler]… it’s just not a possibility. That wasn’t happening.”

But take heart: Davis also previewed a Season 7 full of goodies from Books 6 through 8, courtesy of the fact that the show’s writers didn’t know Outlander would have an eighth season until halfway through shooting Season 7. “Thinking this could be our last season, we had tried to smush as much stuff in as possible,” she said. “I’m actually pretty impressed with the writers, because it feels seamless this season.”