Sam Heughan and Caitríona Balfe in "Outlander" season seven.Starz
- "Outlander" aired eight episodes of season seven in 2023 before taking a midseason hiatus.
- It's been announced that season seven will return in November.
Warning: This article contains spoilers for "Outlander" season seven.
Another Droughtlander has arrived, but there's some light at the end of the tunnel this time around as the team behind the Starz drama already has a return date for the second part of season seven penciled in.
As audiences may already already know, the current season is the show's longest since season one, consisting of 16 episodes. While the first eight were released last summer, the second half will begin airing in November 2024.
In the exhilarating midseason finale, Jamie (Sam Heughan) and Claire (Caitríona Balfe) finally made the journey back to Scotland after an unexpected sequence of events at the second battle of Saratoga. Meanwhile, Brianna (Sophie Skelton) and Roger (Richard Rankin) were faced with the prospect that their young son had been kidnapped and likely taken through the standing stones at Craigh na Dun.
From which cast members you can expect to see in the remaining episodes to details on the Diana Gabaldon books the episodes will be based on, here's everything we know about the second part of "Outlander" season seven.
Starz has announced that the second part of "Outlander" season seven will premiere in November 2024.
Claire Fraser (Caitríona Balfe) and Jamie Fraser (Sam Heughan) in a behind-the-scenes shot of "Outlander" season seven. Starz
Season seven was given a supersized 16-episode order after season six was truncated as a result of delays caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.
After the first half aired in 2023, audiences were told that the remaining eight episodes would be released sometime in 2024.
We now know when exactly that will be, thanks to an announcement from Starz, the network behind "Outlander." In a post shared on the show's social media accounts, it was announced that the show will be returning in November.
The news was shared alongside several behind-the-scenes photos from the upcoming episodes.
If the release model for the second half of season seven is like that of the first half, audiences can look forward to one episode being released a week. Depending on when exactly the first episode drops, fans could be spending Thanksgiving, Christmas, and even New Year's with the Fraser clan.
All of the episodes of season seven were shot in 2023.
Sam Heughan and Caitriona Balfe celebrating filming for "Outlander" season seven being over. Sam Heughan (@samheughan)/Instagram
Given the current strikes in Hollywood that have put a pin on almost all productions, "Outlander" fans will be pleased to learn that the second part of season seven has already been shot.
The cast and crew returned to the set in Scotland to begin filming both parts of the season back to back in April 2022 and confirmed via an announcement on Twitter that filming had concluded in February 2023.
Heughan also shared the news with his Instagram followers, alongside a photo of himself and Balfe smiling while holding a clapperboard.
"That's a WRAP!!! 220 shooting days, a whole year of Outlander," he wrote. "THANK YOU to our amazing crew who have worked so hard and to our brilliant fans…we CANNOT WAIT for you to see season 8 @outlander_starz."
The episodes will be based on the events of the seventh and eighth "Outlander" novels by Diana Gabaldon.
The seventh and eighth books in the "Outlander" series, "An Echo in the Bone" and "Written in My Own Heart's Blood." Delacorte Press
Since it began airing in 2014, the romance drama has roughly adapted one book a season.
However, since season six was shortened, the first part of season seven actually covered some events from Diana Gabaldon's sixth "Outlander" installment, "A Breath of Snow and Ashes," as well as the events of the seventh, "An Echo in the Bone."
Executive producer Maril Davis has told Business Insider that the second part of the season will continue to wrap up the events of "An Echo in the Bone" before launching into the action of the eighth book, "Written in My Own Heart's Blood."
That will allow the writers to fully dedicate the show's eighth and final season to the ninth book in the series, "Go Tell the Bees That I Am Gone." And while there is another book in the works, it's unlikely that it will be published before the show ends.
Sam Heughan, Caitríona Balfe and the rest of the main cast are all expected to return for the new episodes.
"Outlander" season seven begins June 16. Starz
"Outlander" wouldn't be "Outlander" without its two main stars and it would be impossible to think of the show continuing without them so, of course, Heughan and Balfe will be returning.
The pair, who have both held the additional role of executive producers since season five, play 18th-century Scottish warrior Jamie Fraser, and his time-hopping, devoted wife Claire Randall Fraser.
In addition, audiences can expect to see the couple's daughter, Brianna MacKenzie (Skelton), and her husband, Roger MacKenzie (Rankin), back on screen. Their new acquaintance, Buck MacKenzie (Diarmaid Murtagh), and adversary, Rob Cameron (Chris Fulton), will likely make an appearance given their importance to Brianna and Roger's storyline.
Young Ian (John Bell), Lord John Grey (David Berry), and the recently reintroduced William Ransom (Charles Vandervaart) will also likely be back.
As for the Hunter siblings (Izzy Meikle-Small and Joey Phillips), Davis hinted that we might not see so much of them, telling BI: "We've left them behind for a little bit but we are going to come back to them."
Audiences can also look forward to seeing some fan favorites from the show's earlier seasons.
Laoghaire MacKenzie (Nell Hudson), Dougal MacKenzie (Graham McTavish), and Geillis Duncan (Lotte Verbeek). Starz
It was announced in late 2022 that several characters not seen since the show's early days will rejoin the action in the show's seventh season.
These include Dougal MacKenzie (Graham McTavish), Laoghaire Fraser (Nell Hudson), Brian Fraser (Andrew Whipp), Joan MacKimmie (Layla Burns), Ian Murray (Steven Cree), and Geillis Duncan (Lotte Verbeek).
Deadline reported that Jenny Murray, Jamie's sister will also make an appearance, but she will be played by Kristin Atherton, instead of Laura Donnelly, who originated the role.
Given that some of the returning characters are dead, audiences may be wondering how exactly they will be written back into the story. While flashbacks are possible, showrunner Matthew B. Roberts hinted at another option.
"One of the many joys of our epic story is the element of time travel which allows us to revisit some of our favorite characters in different times and places," he said in a statement to BI.
This will be the penultimate season of "Outlander" after it was announced the eighth season would be its last.
Jamie (Sam Heughan) and Claire (Caitríona Balfe) in "Outlander" season seven, episode three. Starz
In January 2023, Starz confirmed the show would be returning for one final run after season seven.
"For nearly a decade 'Outlander' has won the hearts of audiences worldwide and we're pleased to bring Claire and Jamie's epic love story to a proper conclusion," said Kathryn Busby, Starz's original programming president, in a statement.
Like "Game of Thrones," another much-loved TV drama adapted from a long-running series of books, "Outlander" will likely end its run on television before the final novel is released.
However, fans won't have to say goodbye to "Outlander" for good, as a prequel series has been greenlit. Titled "Outlander: Blood of My Blood," it will tell two parallel origin stories: how Jamie's parents came to meet and Claire's parents' war-time romance.
Find out everything we know so far about the prequel series, including who has been cast in the main roles as Jamie and Claire's parents, here.