At the Edinburgh International Television Festival, Outlander showrunner Ronald D. Moore spoke about the series’ upcoming third season, as well as his new science fiction anthology series Electric Dreams: The World of Philip K. Dick. An article from Variety had the story.
Moore, who’s previous television works include the critically acclaimed Battlestar Galactica reboot and Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, discussed the challenges of working on a literary adaptation, as Outlander is based on a series of novels by Diana Gabaldon. Moore said that he had to tread carefully when adapting the material, because the books have such a large and passionate fan base.
“My job as the showrunner is to figure out how to service that audience and also bring in a new audience that has never read these books. And the show, week after week, has to function on both these levels,” he said. Moore elaborated, stating: “You are not capturing Diana’s voice in the show, so much as you are capturing her world and her story. Diana’s voice is there for you on the page. When you read the book, or any book, the author is speaking to you directly[…]The TV show has a vision, feeling and vibe that is an entity unto itself. All these component pieces then combine into our voice”.
Moore also explained that one of the main reasons he decided to adapt Outlander was Claire Randall, the series protagonist. He said “I really liked her intelligence and her strength of character. It was one of the things that drew me into the story”.
When discussing Outlander‘s upcoming third season, Moore teased that the show would be heading away from Scotland and out to sea. “There’s an extended journey across the Atlantic and then the story eventually goes to Jamaica, the Caribbean and ending up in the New World”, he said, adding “Season 3 will be as different to Season 2 as Season 2 was to Season 1”.
Moore also took some time to talk about the new 10-part sci-fi series he’s been working on: Electric Sheep: The Dreams of Philip K. Dick. Moore is acting as co-executive producer along with Breaking Bad‘s Bryan Cranston and Michael Dinner (Justified). Each episode of the series will be an adaptation of a story by legendary science fiction author Philip K. Dick, whose story Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep was the basis for the film Blade Runner. Furthermore, each episode will have different writers and directors in order to make each story feel unique.
Moore is currently working on the script for Electric Dreams. Filming for Outlander‘s third season began this past Sunday, August 21st. The show will most likely be returning to the Starz network sometime in 2017.