Everything we know about the upcoming 'Outlander' prequel series 'Blood of My Blood'
Eve Crosbie
- "Outlander" may be ending with season 8, but fans can look forward to an upcoming prequel.
- "Outlander: Blood of my Blood" will center on Jamie's parents, Brian Fraser and Ellen MacKenzie.
At the start of this year, "Outlander" fans received some bad news and some good news.
Starz announced that the series had been renewed for an eighth and final season, putting a pin in their original plans to adapt all of Diana Gabaldon's novels (the last of which has still not yet been written).
Although that will bring Jamie (Sam Heughan) and Claire's (Caitríona Balfe) time-traveling escapades to a close, audiences were delighted to learn that a prequel series continuing the story of the Fraser family was officially in production.
Speculation that Starz was expanding the "Outlander" universe began in 2020, when Deadline reported that the network bosses had encouraged producers Ronald D. Moore and Maril Davis to "to plot a slew of spin-offs, sequels and story extensions."
Over two years later, fans got the news they had been waiting for when the prequel series was officially announced. Several months later, it was announced that the writers' room had started working on scripts and that the series had been given a name — "Outlander: Blood of my Blood."
While a release date for the series hasn't been set yet, and no casting announcements have been made, lots of other details about the series have been shared. Here's everything we know so far.
The series will center on Jamie Fraser's parents, Ellen MacKenzie and Brian Fraser.
These are two "Outlander" characters that audiences have never seen — although we've heard plenty about them over the years.
"'Blood of My Blood' is, at its heart, a love story," said Roberts, who will serve as showrunner and executive producer on the series. "It will explore what lengths a person will go to find love in a time when love is considered a luxury, and when marriages are made strategically, often for political or financial gain."
Fans of both the "Outlander" series and novels will understand exactly what Roberts means, as an abridged version of Ellen and Brian's love story was detailed in season one: the couple eloped together and stayed hidden until Ellen was visibly pregnant with their first child, forcing her family to accept their union.
Diana Gabaldon is involved as a consulting producer — and she's also writing a book about the characters, too.
The author has confirmed that, alongside writing what is expected to be the tenth and final novel in the "Outlander" series, she is also working on several other stories connected to Jamie and Claire, including a prequel novel about the same characters.
The book does not yet have a title, but Gabaldon told the audience at the 2022 Edinburgh International Book Festival that it includes romance and plenty of historical intrigue.
"The story is woven in with the Jacobite Risings – there will be a lot of clan politics and other interesting things," she said, per The Scotsman.
For those who are interested, she has shared several excerpts of the book with her Facebook audience.
As for how the show's producers are working with Gabaldon and her unfinished novel, executive producer Maril Davis told Insider in August: "We hope she will share as she goes, but we've kind of been taking the breadcrumbs she's left in her books and expanding on those to build a story."
Starz has already said the prequel will be 10 episodes, but it's not clear if that means it will be a limited series.
In a press release from January, Starz announced that "Outlander: Blood of My Blood" had been greenlit for a 10-episode season.
It hasn't been confirmed if that means the series will be a one-off, or whether viewers can expect more seasons after "Outlander: Blood of My Blood" airs. Representatives for Starz did not respond to Insider's request for comment.
The title is a nod to the vow Jamie made to Claire on their wedding day.
If you were wondering what "Blood of My Blood" means exactly, it's a phrase that "Outlander" fans know well, as it's part of the Gaelic blood vow Jamie and Claire exchanged on their wedding day.
'"Ye are blood of my blood, and bone of my bone, I give ye my body, that we two might be one. I give ye my spirit, 'til our life shall be done."
Since Gabaldon invented the vow herself, audiences could see Brian and Ellen exchange it during their marriage.
The series will likely be set sometime around 1716, some 30 years before the events of "Outlander."
That's when the Great Gathering at Castle Leoch happened — where Brian and Ellen met for the first time — according to the "Outlander" books.
That would make our heroine Ellen and her future husband Brian both 25 at the time the series begins, as they were both born in 1681, per details shared in "Dragonfly in Amber."
The series will feature younger versions of some beloved characters from "Outlander."
However, because the prequel will be set nearly three decades before the events of the main series, don't expect any of the same actors to be playing the roles.
Some characters who could show up in the prequel include Dougal MacKenzie (Graham McTavish) and Colum MacKenzie (Gary Lewis), Jamie's uncles, as well as Jocasta MacKenzie (Maria Doyle Kennedy), his aunt.
It's likely that Murtagh Fitzgibbons (Duncan Lacroix) could also make an appearance, given the fact that it has been revealed in "Outlander" that he once held a flame for Ellen.
A younger version of Jamie Fraser may also appear.
In an interview with Esquire, Sam Heughan said that while he's definitely not in the show, there's a chance a younger version of his character could be.
"All I can tell you is I'm not in it, as Jamie's not in it," he said. "I believe that it's a prequel focusing on Jamie's parents when they were younger, so I guess you might see a young version of him at some point."
If the series does kick off around 1715 as we suspect, that's six years before Jamie's birth in 1721, meaning that audiences shouldn't expect him to come into the series straightaway. Brian and Ellen had two other children before he was born, after all.
Pre-production on "Outlander: Blood of My Blood" has been halted in light of the Hollywood strikes.
Davis told Insider in August that pre-production on the show had been put on a temporary hiatus in light of the Writer's Guild of America strike, which began in May of this year.
"It's devastating and I hope we all get back soon," she said. "We were in pre production on both season eight and the prequel, we were in the writer's rooms for both before it happened."
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