Outlander is ending after eight seasons. Before the series finale airs, read on for secrets about the STARZ show, including how Caitríona Balfe and Sam Heughan were cast as Claire and Jamie.
Nothing is lost, only changed.
And Outlander fans are about to experience a major one when the show airs its series finale May 15.
Premiering in 2014, the period drama based on Diana Gabaldon’s books introduced viewers to Caitríona Balfe’s Claire Randall—a World War II nurse who is thrust back to 1743 Scotland—and Sam Heughan’s Jamie Fraser, a Scottish warrior who is forced to wed the already-married Claire before they end up falling in love.
Fast forward to season eight—following much more time travel, romance, and historic rebellions ranging from the Jacobite Risings to the American Revolution—and the series finale brings viewers to the Battle of Kings Mountain, where they will learn Jamie’s fate.
“Fans should brace themselves,” executive producer Matthew B. Roberts recently revealed to TV Insider. “The question of whether Jamie dies at [the battle of] King’s Mountain is the question this entire season has been building toward. We don’t avoid it. We walk straight into it.”
As for the actual fight, it’s “everything you’d expect from Outlander at its best: visceral, emotional, and not quite what anyone is predicting,” he teased. “We don’t do anything the easy way, and we’re not starting now.”
In fact, the showrunner told the outlet multiple endings were filmed.
“The cast does not know which ending made the final cut,” Roberts continued. “They’ll find out when you do. Honestly, I think that’s a beautiful way for it to end. Bring the Kleenex. Bring the whiskey. And maybe watch it twice.”
However the show concludes, Balfe is just grateful for the journey.
“I think it will remain a constant in our lives for a long time,” the actress told ELLE earlier this month. “What a gift to have been given.”
And one that keeps on giving. Because while Outlander is ending, the second season of its prequel series Outlander: Blood of My Blood is set to return this fall.
As you pop your popcorn and settle in for the series finale, do a little time traveling of your own by revisiting these Outlander facts.
Outlander Secrets That’ll Make You Want to Travel Back in Time and Watch It All Over Again
Outlander is ending after eight seasons. Before the series finale airs, read on for secrets about the STARZ show, including how Caitríona Balfe and Sam Heughan were cast as Claire and Jamie.
Nothing is lost, only changed.
And Outlander fans are about to experience a major one when the show airs its series finale May 15.
Premiering in 2014, the period drama based on Diana Gabaldon’s books introduced viewers to Caitríona Balfe‘s Claire Randall—a World War II nurse who is thrust back to 1743 Scotland—and Sam Heughan‘s Jamie Fraser, a Scottish warrior who is forced to wed the already-married Claire before they end up falling in love.
Fast forward to season eight—following much more time travel, romance, and historic rebellions ranging from the Jacobite Risings to the American Revolution—and the series finale brings viewers to the Battle of Kings Mountain, where they will learn Jamie’s fate.
“Fans should brace themselves,” executive producer Matthew B. Roberts recently revealed to TV Insider. “The question of whether Jamie dies at [the battle of] King’s Mountain is the question this entire season has been building toward. We don’t avoid it. We walk straight into it.”
As for the actual fight, it’s “everything you’d expect from Outlander at its best: visceral, emotional, and not quite what anyone is predicting,” he teased. “We don’t do anything the easy way, and we’re not starting now.”
In fact, the showrunner told the outlet multiple endings were filmed.
“The cast does not know which ending made the final cut,” Roberts continued. “They’ll find out when you do. Honestly, I think that’s a beautiful way for it to end. Bring the Kleenex. Bring the whiskey. And maybe watch it twice.”
StarzHowever the show concludes, Balfe is just grateful for the journey.
“I think it will remain a constant in our lives for a long time,” the actress told ELLE earlier this month. “What a gift to have been given.”
And one that keeps on giving. Because while Outlander is ending, the second season of its prequel series Outlander: Blood of My Blood is set to return this fall.
As you pop your popcorn and settle in for the series finale, do a little time traveling of your own by revisiting these Outlander facts.
Alberto E. Rodriguez/Getty Images1. Diana Gabaldon Makes A Cameo
Author Diana Gabaldon showed up in the first season episode titled “The Gathering” as Iona MacTavish, a wealthy merchant’s wife. She said two lines in what she (accurately, probably) refers to as a “very correct Scottish accent.” Executive Producer Ronald D. Moore also appeared in the same episode, but had no lines.
Starz2. The Time Travel Is Science Fiction, But the Show Is Based in Reality
Despite the dreamy setting and lots of references to witchcraft, the story of Outlander is more scifi than fantasy. At PaleyFest in 2014—the year of the show’s premiere—Gabaldon explained that the time travel is science fiction and not magic and that she alone knows how it works. The characters have to figure it out as they go along. Aside from the time travel, the story is set entirely in the real world, based on real-world history.
Starz3. The Show Had Real-Life Poltiical Implications
Outlander had an interesting connection to the 2014 Sony hack, when leaked emails revealed that former U.K. Prime Minister David Cameron met with some Sony execs to talk about delaying the show’s release in the U.K. due to its politics.
The series deals with Scottish rebels fighting against British rule during the Jacobite risings in the 1700s, and in 2014, Scotland was voting on whether it should become an independent country from the United Kingdom. Cameron apparently wanted to delay the show’s release until after the referendum that September, which makes sense given how very pro-Scotland and anti-England it is. The “no” side won with 55% of the vote, and Scotland continues to be a part of the United Kingdom.
Starz4. An Intimacy Coordinator Was Brought in Season 6
The steamy scenes in the show are very specific and intricate because they’re meant to convey something about the relationship between Jamie and Claire as opposed to just being gratuitous sex or soft-core porn. So in later seasons, the stars worked with an intimacy coordinator.
“Everyone has intimacy coordinators [now],” Claire’s Caitríona Balfe told ELLE in May 2026, noting one was first brought in season six. “I feel very grateful to have been a part of that time when that came in. Seeing the before and after, I think it is such a benefit.”
Before having to film their sex scenes in the pilot, Balfe and Tobias Menzies wrote each other letters as Claire and her husband Frank to help create some intimacy between actors who had only just met.
Starz5. The Show Makes Things a Bit Awkward Between Stars & Their Parents
Because some of these scenes can get rather hot and heavy, the stars had to tackle a big question: Do they let their parents watch?
Particularly for the three leads, family dinners could get a bit awkward after their parents watched them enage in explicit sex and torture scenes on a weekly basis.
At PaleyFest in 2014, Balfe revealed that she had heard from various sources that her dad had seen the show. However, she got the news secondhand that he liked the series from her sister since he refused to actually discuss it outright with Balfe.
Menzies had similar reservations.
“I feel a bit odd,” he told E!. “My tummy’s doing a funny thing thinking of my mum watching it, so I think I might have to warn her. Yeah, you’re right. I’m glad we had this conversation.”
Getty Images6. Liam Neeson & Sean Connery Were First Considered as Leading Men
“This was years ago when I was first approached about adapting Outlander, when it was a feature film,” author Gabaldon told E!. “But Liam Neeson and Sean Connery were the first contenders for Jamie.”
Gabaldon admitted that when she was first approached with Sam Heughan as a possibility for Jamie in the Starz series, she found him “grotesque,” but now she thinks he’s perfect. “People say, ‘Do [Sam and Caitríona] look just like your imagination?'” Gabaldon mused. “And I’m like, ‘Well, how could they?’ But they don’t need to. What an actor does is magic.”
Starz7. Finding the Two Leads Was a “Light-Bulb” Moment
Producer Moore has admitted that finding Heughan for Jamie and Balfe for Claire did not go as expected.
“At the outset, I told everyone that we would find Claire first and then Jamie would be the last one cast, and of course it was exactly the opposite,” Moore told E!. “It was really hard to find Claire. Sam came in really early in the process and he was literally the first one we cast. We saw the tape and we were like, ‘Oh my god, there he is. Let’s snatch him up now.'”
But the showrunner could’ve used some of that time travel to speed up the process of casting Claire.
“Claire just took a long time,” he continued. “A lot of actresses, a lot of tape, looking for really ineffable qualities. She had to be smart, she had to have a strength of character, and really, she had to be someone that you could watch think on camera. But then suddenly Caitríona’s tape came in and we had that same light-bulb moment.”
Starz8. Caitríona Balfe Might Owe Her Job to One Line
The line that convinced Moore that Balfe was “the one” was the part she read while testing with a pilot scene in which she’s on a horse with an injured Jamie. As he’s falling off a horse, she says, “Help, stop, he’s going over.”
“We heard that line so many times we wanted to cut it from the show,” Moore recalled to E!, “but when Cat did it, we all just suddenly were engaged in the scene again, and we all just went, ‘Oh my god, there she is. That’s Claire.'”
Starz9. Sam Heughan Did Not Impress In Pictures…At First
When Gabaldon first saw pictures of Heughan, she did not approve. As she admitted at PaleyFest in 2014, her first thought was “grotesque.”
Regardless of how positive she then tried to make that word sound, it’s still not a word you would think of when you read how attractive Jamie Fraser is in the books. However, Gabaldon’s mind was totally changed when she watched his screen test, and now we’re not sure we could point to anyone who doesn’t think Heughan is absolutely perfect for the role.
Starz10. Sam Heughan & Laura Donnelly Had Worked Together Before
Jamie’s spunky younger sister Jenny was played by Laura Donnelly, who already had a history with Heughan. They acted together in a 2014 movie called Heart of Lightness, which was about a group of British actors who follow their narcoleptic director to the Norwegian Arctic Circle to film a play before they’re overwhelmed by tension among the cast and the fact that the sun never sets. Constantine’s Matt Ryan also appeared in the film. Unfortunately the movie was released in Norway and is not on Netflix, which is a shame because it sounds intriguing.
Starz11. How to Get Caitríona Balfe’s Stunning Makeup-Free Look
You know how Claire looks jaw-droppingly radiant in every single scene, without, it seems, a single stitch of makeup? Well, we asked Outlander‘s makeup supervisor, Julie Kendrick, how we can copy that look, and apparently, all you have to do is get a time machine, go back and be born of Balfe’s mother and father!
“Caitríona is naturally beautiful and has lovely skin,” Kendrick said. “That’s always a help when, as a makeup artist, your canvas is a good one! If we were to give away all our trade secrets, then unfortunately, they are no longer secrets! What we can tell you is with the long shooting hours and not that much sleep, you can never drink enough water or have too much blusher.” BRB, running to CVS.
Starz12. Sam Heughan Is the Hottest Nerd Ever
The Scotsman admits he was “desperate” to get cast on Outlander, in part because of executive producer Moore’s work on Star Trek and Battlestar Galactica. During his screen test lunch break, Heughan talked to Moore about Captain Kirk.
He’s also obsessed with another little time travel franchise known as Back to the Future. “I think that is one of the best trilogies ever made,” he told E!, with Balfe adding, “Sam tries to talk about it every day, if he can.”
Starz13. It Was Someone’s Job to Rub Sam Heughan’s Back With Oil for 45 Minutes
As you may have noticed, Jamie’s back scars (from flogging) were shown pretty often. Which means Heughan had to spend a lot of time in the makeup chair.
“Sam has the unfortunate task of having a prosthetic back applied every time his ‘taps aff!’ as the Scots would say,” makeup supervisor Kendrick explained. (‘Taps off’ means to take your top off in Glasgow, by the way.) “The whole process for Jamie’s back scars and many other scars is two hours, 30 mins and it takes three of us to do. There are two large prosthetic pieces to apply and some smaller ones, and every single section needs to be glued onto Sam’s skin, blended and colored up.”
Starz14. The Costumes Are as Authentic as Possible—Including What’s Underneath
No Velcro, no zippers, not a lot of shoes, and kilts are worn as kilts are supposed to be worn—with absolutely nothing underneath. These are true Scots!
What’s not authentic are the effects of war and journeying through the Highlands. To achieve the look of well-worn clothing, the costumes are attacked with cheese graters, burned with blow torches and aged by tying them up with string and baking them.
Starz15. Every Single Kilt Is Worn Differently
“All of our actors wear their kilts just a bit differently from each other,” Outlander‘s costumer Terry Dresbach previously told E!. “They personalize them and make them very much their own. We are talking about 12 yards of fabric that has to be belted and tucked by each actor, and they have developed their own ways of wearing them that belongs very much to them. It is incredibly important that they feel like their character, and helping them to find that place is an essential part of our job.”
Starz16. Sam Heughan Finds His Kilt “Liberating”
“Sam/Jamie wears his with almost a long skirt hanging down the back that swings beautifully when he moves,” Dresbach continued. In fact, Heughan himself told E! that he hates wearing trousers and finds kilts “liberating” and “freeing”…especially while riding a horse.
Starz17. Other Kilt Secrets…
Graham McTavish, who played Dougall, wears his kilt “pinned at the shoulder and worn across his chest, very aristocratic,” said Dresbach. Meanwhile, Grant O’Rourke, a.k.a. Rupert, “tucks a corner of his plaid into his belt to create a pocket to carry his hat in.”
As for Stephen Walters, who portrayed Angus, he “uses a special rock to clasp his plaid,” Dresbach noted. “It is used to create what is called a pauper’s knot in the Highlands. At one point his rock was lost and he panicked as a Highlander told him to keep it safe and never let it leave Scotland. We found it and keep it very dear.”
Starz18. The Show Is Different From the Books
“We did add some scenes and some extras,” Lotte Verbeek, who played Geillis, explained. “Even though it’s quite truthful to the book, there is still some freedom.”
And apparently, it’s Geillis who changed the most.
“I have not read all the books, but I know that, particularly for my character Geillis, that they do take some freedoms with what happens and how it happens and when it happens,” Verbeek added. “So, it’s very intriguing for me too. It’s hard to talk about my part without giving away spoilers.”
Agreed Graham McTavish (Dougan), “Yes, she has the hardest job from the point of view, actually.”
Starz19. Author Diana Gabaldon Loves Rupert and Angus
While most of the show is lifted straight out of the books, author Gabaldon has said that, of the things she didn’t write, her favorite has to be how Rupert and Angus went from being very minor characters to “the 1800’s version of Laurel and Hardy.”
We’re glad for the slight change, too, since as much as we love Jamie and Claire and watching them go through incredible adventures and horrible tragedies, we also welcome some much-needed comic relief.
Starz20. The Medical Stories Are Accurate
People in the Scottish Highlands didn’t have access to modern medical care at the time. So they relied, as Claire discovers, on some interesting local remedies. People were whipped with nettles to relieve aching joints. Cow’s dung was used to clear scabs or blotches on the face. Epilepsy was treated by drinking water out of the skull of a person who died by suicide. Yet, a person with knowledge of germs and anesthetic might be suspected of witchcraft.
Starz21. The Gaelic Is Not Easy
While Scottish dialect has had sort of a revival from being thought of as slang, Scottish Gaelic of the 1700s is very different from anything anyone speaks today. It was not easy for the actors to learn, especially since they had to get used to a whole new set of sounds and had to learn to loosen their throats. One Gaelic word you’ll hear a lot on the show is “Sassenach,” which means “outlander.” It’s supposed to be a slightly offensive term for someone out of place, but it also becomes Jamie’s affectionate nickname for Claire.
Starz22. The Scottish History Will Make You Smarter
Get ready to learn a lot about Scottish politics in the 1700s! That may not sound exciting to some, but it is when you consider the fact that Claire is from a future where things don’t go so well for the Highlanders she calls her friends (and more-than-friends).
“I think it’s a really interesting time that we’re setting the show in,” Heughan previously told E!, “the second or third Jacobite rebellion, the battle at Culloden, which was sort of the end of the Highland way of life, so they banned the use of Gaelic language and kilts and the playing of pipes, and all of that kind of culture, so it’s kind of like a doomed race that we meet in the first series.”
Starz23. Outlander Fans Go Crazy With Their Big Bad…Ovens
“There’s this group, The Outlander Bakers,” Balfe once shared with E!, “and I do not know how they do this, but we shoot in the most remote locations up in the middle of mountains in the highlands. And they will find us and they will bring us not only amazing cakes and cookies but gluten-free stuff. It’s quite amazing.”
And apparently they take orders!
“Sam has been very smart about it,” she continued with a laugh. “He just sort of tweets his love of all things peanut butter and there it arrives!”
Starz24. “You Will Fall in Love With Scotland”
The show is almost entirely shot on location all over Scotland, with very little green screen. “I think when people watch the show, they’ll fall in love with Scotland,” Heughan noted to E!. “You’ll be amazed.”
And Balfe agrees.
“There’s such a harsh climate there, and I think that really affects how people are and the realness and rawness of the story,” she said. “So I think it was very important to everybody that we have that as an element in our show as well.”
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