The lengthy await Outlander’s eighth and closing season will formally lengthen past the tip of the 2025 TV schedule, however that doesn’t imply Starz will depart followers of the unique collection hanging for the remainder of the yr whereas Blood of My Blood delves into the lead duo’s mother and father. San Diego Comedian-Con’s 2025 panel not solely dropped the primary footage for the final season (full with nostalgic nods to the previous), but in addition ended on a serious shock deal with for followers that assured that I’m not going to be too troubled by the questions on Jamie’s destiny simply but.
That’s, a serious deal with if you happen to’re as a lot of a fan of the present’s opening theme as I’m! However let’s begin with the primary glimpses of Caitriona Balfe and Sam Heughan of their final season as Claire and Jamie Fraser. In spite of everything, “irritating” isn’t a nasty factor in relation to teaser trailers – we’re by no means going to get all of the solutions forward of time, and half the enjoyable of speculating and the irritating lack of solutions!
Outlander Revisits The Previous In The First Look At Season 8
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The teaser (seen above) admittedly options extra footage of the primary seven seasons than glimpses of the eighth, however I truly cherished the nostalgia. Not solely was it a blast to the previous that hooked me into the saga of Claire and Jamie, but it surely stroke a chord in my memory of how effectively the present’s make-up group managed ageing up Caitriona Balfe and Sam Heughan. Certain, the actors wouldn’t look as younger as they did after they filmed the 2014 pilot by Season 8 anyway, however Sam Heughan in the course of the SDCC panel clearly wasn’t as outdated as his fictional counterpart by Season 8’s level within the timeline. (Caitriona Balfe was unable to attend.)
And Season 8’s level within the timeline may not be nice for Jamie. Whereas the cliffhanger of Religion’s attainable survival and time journey standing isn’t addressed within the trailer, it does counsel that maybe Outlander will deal with its longest-standing thriller earlier than the ultimate credit roll: the spectral picture of Jamie that Claire noticed earlier than she traveled again to the 18th century for the primary time.
The point out of Frank’s ebook mixed with these flashes to the earliest days of the present (together with Tobias Menzies as each Frank Randall and Black Jack Randall) already had me considering again to when he was Claire’s beloved twentieth century husband, as he was when Ghost Jamie first appeared. Throw within the query of whether or not this really would be the season when James Fraser meets his doom, and there’s quite a bit to ponder forward of the 2026 return.
The stakes are sky-high in a closing season when a present doesn’t even have to forestall its principal characters from being killed off for good, and Outlander foreshadowed Jamie’s ghost (kind of) approach again at first. Alas, we simply have extra questions than solutions at this level, and I’m left pissed off that the Season 1 scene of Claire recognizing Jamie within the Forties wasn’t one of many nostalgic flashes.
However my frustration and wish for extra solutions didn’t final as I sat in San Diego Comedian-Con’s Outlander panel.
Raya Yarbrough’s Shock Efficiency
If the title “Raya Yarborough” doesn’t ring a bell for you, you could not have spent as a lot time as I’ve listening to the Outlander soundtracks. Yarborough carried out the enduring “Skye Boat Track” that has been featured in each Outlander episode thus far, with completely different variations for the primary six seasons earlier than Sinéad O’Connor’s model was used for Season 7.
There have been variations to the tune all through the seasons with completely different preparations, and one among my favorites was the Jacobite model from Season 2, which incorporates the drums of warfare and tied completely to the Battle of Culloden. The duet model with Griogair stored the lyrics however modified the tone by including a male voice to associate with Yarborough’s, and was a enjoyable shock again in 2018.
However the enjoyable shock from SDCC this yr? Raya Yarborough herself took the stage to carry out “The Skye Boat Track” on the Corridor H stage between the tip of the Outlander panel and starting of the Outlander: Blood of My Blood panel. As if that wasn’t sufficient of a deal with for followers like me who would by no means dream of skipping forward by means of the opening credit of an Outlander episode and lacking the credit, a four-man live performance of bagpipers turned as much as play “Scotland the Courageous.” And if you happen to’ve by no means heard a bagpipe performed in particular person earlier than… effectively, it’s loud, thrilling, and a fairly nice approach to hype the tip of 1 present and begin of one other!
Whereas the wait remains to be on for Outlander to get a extra particular launch date than the information that Season 8 will arrive in 2026, the await Blood of My Blood gained’t final an excessive amount of longer. The spinoff premieres on Friday, August eighth at 8 p.m. ET on Starz, with the enjoyable coincidence that the date is sort of precisely eleven years to the date from Outlander’s collection premiere. The collection has additionally already been renewed for Season 2, so there’s no want to fret if the tales of Claire’s mother and father and Jamie’s mother and father will probably be reduce quick.