Dark clouds hang heavy above as an icy wind whips the barren Scottish moors. Mourners have gathered on this somber day to bury Red Jacob, the powerful laird of Clan MacKenzie. His unexpected passing — with no successor named — has complicated the oft-tense battle for power among the Highland clans. While Red Jacob (Peter Mullan) had always favored his eldest daughter, Ellen (Harriet Slater), the simple fact remains: Ellen cannot rule as laird. It’s the year 1714, and no man will bend the knee to a woman.
As the opening scenes roll on Starz’s newest drama, Outlander: Blood of My Blood (premiering August 8), it quickly becomes apparent that viewers should dinna fash (not worry) — especially fans of the network’s Outlander, which is now entering its eighth and final season. With this new chapter of Blood, audiences are introduced to two new swoon-worthy couples, portrayed by Slater, Jamie Roy, Hermione Corfield, and Jeremy Irvine. The series invites fans to travel even further back in time, offering younger versions of many favorite Outlander characters.
"Outlander is an incredible example of a show with a highly engaged audience," says Alison Hoffman, president of Starz Networks. "The show means something to its audience, beyond the once-a-week viewing. It has real cultural impact." During its 11-year run, Outlander — based on Diana Gabaldon’s books — has consistently delivered between 5 and 6 million multiplatform viewers per episode.
Much of that passion stems from Gabaldon’s sweeping series of nine novels, centered on a World War II battlefield nurse who inadvertently travels 200 years back in time and falls for a rogue Highlander. To date, the books have sold over 50 million copies worldwide, with the tenth and final installment, tentatively titled A Blessing for a Warrior Going Out, still awaiting publication. Fans track the saga online, and every June 1, they mark World Outlander Day, celebrating the 1991 release of the original novel.
The fervor took the show’s producers by surprise when, before the series even premiered in 2014, an early trailer screening and panel discussion were overwhelmed by enthusiastic fans. The following has only grown. “We consider the series a powerhouse,” Hoffman adds. “Especially in these days when everything is so fractured and fragmented. Season after season, the Outlander audience has continued to come back, essentially at the same level.”
Watch the exclusive interview with the Outlander: Blood of My Blood during the emmy cover shoot.
As the series began to wind down during its seventh season, questions arose about whether stars Sam Heughan and Caitríona Balfe would return as Jamie and Claire Fraser for one final outing. Meanwhile, the creative team was already exploring ideas for a sequel, prequel — anything to remain in their beloved Scotland, where filming has taken place for over a decade.
Early discussions included adapting one of Gabaldon’s spinoff novellas about Lord John Grey (David Berry), the English soldier with unrequited love for Jamie. “We went down the road a little bit with that one,” recalls executive producer Maril Davis. But then one day, Matthew B. Roberts — showrunner on Blood of My Blood — knocked on Davis’s office door. “Hear me out,” he said. “I have an idea for a prequel.”
Roberts, one of the few men to have read all the Outlander novels before being hired as a writer-producer, had zeroed in on a thread involving Jamie Fraser’s parents. From that spark, he spun a sweeping narrative of two intertwined love stories — one in 18th-century Scotland, the other set during the grim years of World War I.
"What draws people to Outlander is that once Claire and Jamie bond, you never question their love for each other," Roberts explains. "I’m the kind of person who likes a good love story. I grew up watching The Wonder Years, and throughout that show there’s the love story between Kevin [Fred Savage] and Winnie [Danica McKellar]. You need to have some sort of love story, and obviously Outlander has that in spades."
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This article originally appeared in its entirety in emmy magazine, issue #9, 2025, under the title "About Time"
