The time is coming for fans of the time-traveling historical romance Outlander to say goodbye. Starz has announced that they are renewing Outlander for a final season, according to The Hollywood Reporter. At the time of the eighth and final season, the show will be the longest-running original in Starz history.
According to The Hollywood Reporter, the renewal comes months before the summer premiere of the seventh season, which will have an extended season, counting sixteen episodes. The final season will reduce the count to ten episodes.
The cast of the seventh season includes Caitriona Balfe (Ford v Ferrari, Belfast) as Claire Randall; Sam Heughan (The Spy Who Dumped Me, Suspect) stars as Jamie Fraser; Sophie Skelton (Stalker, 211) portraying Brianna Randall Fraser; Richard Rankin (Burnistoun, The Syndicate) plays Roger Wakefield; John Bell (Into the Badlands, The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies) as Ian; David Berry (A Place to Call Home, Home and Away) will be starring as Lord John Grey; newcomer Caitlin O’Ryan portrays Lizzie Wemyss; Paul Gorman (Mayflies) will be playing Keziah Beardsley; Charles Vandervaart (Holly Hobbie, Murdoch Mysteries) as William Ransom; Izzy Meikle-Small (Ripper Street, The 7.39) stars as Rachel Hunter, and Joey Phillips (Doctors, Casualty) portrays Dr. Denzell Hunter.
The final season of the series will be based on Written in My Own Heart’s Blood, the eighth book in the series written by Diana Gabaldon (Lord John Grey series). When the show first premiered in 2014, this was the last book in the saga but since then the books series has continued and the author has published a ninth installment, called Go Tell the Bees That I Am Gone, and is writing the tenth book that will finalize the series.
According to The Hollywood Reporter, Starz has green-lighted a prequel series called Outlander: Blood of My Blood. This new show will follow the love story of Jamie Fraser’s parents, Brian Fraser and Ellen MacKenzie. Outlander showrunner Matthew B. Roberts (Hellcats, Caprica) will also be the showrunner for this new series. The author, Gabaldon, will serve as a consulting producer on the prequel show.
Outlander follows Claire, a 1945 combat nurse who mysteriously ends up in 1743. There, she encounters Jamie Fraser, a handsome Highlander with whom she falls in love and eventually marries. During her time in the past, Claire gets entangled in the Jacobite uprising as she attempts to return to her time.
The seventh season of Outlander is set to premiere in the summer of 2023. It is still unknown when the last season will premiere. Seasons one through six are available to watch on Starz and Netflix. Don’t forget to watch the teaser trailer for season seven below.