Thanks to author Diana Gabaldon, the world of Outlander as we’ve seen it through seven seasons so far has been chock-a-block with memorable characters, whether we love, hate, or love to hate them. Obviously, fans all love Claire and Jamie Fraser and their assorted family and friends, and this includes a certain British, love-struck military man who crossed paths with the duo decades ago and became a good friend: Lord John Grey. Viewers have called for the character to have his own spinoff for years, and now that an Outlander EP has explained why that honor went to Blood of My Blood first, I finally kinda get their reasoning.
Why Is Outlander: Blood Of My Blood The First Spinoff?
While the 2025 TV premieres did bring us the second part of Outlander Season 7, it’s also given fans the first season of Outlander: Blood of My Blood, the prequel spinoff that follows Claire and Jamie’s parents as they adventure through early 1700s Scotland and deal with the complications of accidental time travel.
While the series has certainly delivered more of some of television’s sexiest romantic moments and contenders for the Outlander franchise’s 10 best episodes, with its focus on younger versions of characters from the original show (as well as several new ones), something we don’t have is Lord John Grey (played by David Berry). Though he’s a character that fans have wanted to have his own spinoff since his first major arc in Season 3, it’s still not on the docket, but showrunner/executive producer Maril Davis recently revealed why that is to Radio Times, and I do finally understand their thinking. As she said:
We’d still like to do Lord John, so that is still a possibility, it just wasn’t the right time. [Blood of My Blood] seemed like a natural extension. To tell another great love story with Jamie and Claire’s parents and to have both parallel love stories was too amazing to pass up.
Sigh…OK, Maril. FINE. I can actually see where they’re coming from now. But that doesn’t mean I have to like it!
To be clear, I am loving the action on Blood of My Blood. Not only do the stars bear a very realistically “spooky” resemblance to OG stars Caitríona Balfe and Sam Heughan (who portray their adult, on-screen children), but the series is overall just the costume-filled, shockingly dramatic/traumatic story, and dual old-timey romance-fest we need while in our current Droughtlander.
The stories of Julia and Henry Beauchamp (Claire’s folks) and Ellen and Brian Fraser (Jamie’s parents) had to largely be created from scratch for OBOMB, with the writers even changing something previously established on the parent show to make this new series possible. Meanwhile, viewers have had several seasons of Lord John action, in addition to the character having a series of novellas and novels dedicated to his exploits.
As someone who’s read those stories and loved them, I have always been on the side of Lord John getting his own TV show, but I do understand how going back and focusing on Claire and Jamie’s parents (especially with Outlander time travel playing a big part) “was too amazing to pass up.” Mostly, it was sure to remind fans of early-days Outlander, which is a beautiful thing as the parent show heads into its final season. Plus, it gives us more sweeping love stories, whereas the Lord John tales are essentially historical mysteries and similar to the OG drama in time period only.
It sounds like the good thing is that there may still be hope for us to get that Lord John series at some point in the future, so let’s all pray that we eventually have that to look forward to.