LONDON — (AP) — "Outlander" is returning with the concluding episodes of its seventh season this month, but its stars have already wrapped official production on the show's eighth and final season.
Caitríona Balfe and Sam Heughan, who have played time traveler Claire and 18th century Highlander Jamie since the show began, recently teased their bittersweet goodbye. Speaking less than a fortnight after their official wrap day, with only a few pick-up shots left to shoot, the stars described filming their final scene for the upcoming season.
“It was very emotional. I was very emotional,” Balfe said.
“I was, too,” Heughan agreed. “We ended on a scene, well, I think — it was quite tough to do because it was a real Jamie-Claire moment, so it felt quite fitting. And I think they scheduled it like that. But it was also quite intense because a lot of the crew came to sort of celebrate or watch the final take of the final scene.”
“And there was a lot of words,” added Balfe. “It was really hard to get through it because it also felt like everything had sort of this double meaning, you know, it’s a lot of talk about goodbyes and things.”
Based on the books by Diana Gabaldon and mostly filmed in Scotland, the long-running show has leapt across time periods, including the Jacobite Rising, 1740s Versailles, 1960s Boston, the Revolutionary War — and more.
“I played Jamie when he was 23 and now he’s sort of around 60. So it’s quite a journey,” said Heughan. “The show is always changing, always moving, it’s a real journey that they’ve been on from Scotland to America. And I think it’s very rewarding. I’m glad we weren’t in a sort of procedural where we had to sort of be in the same location all the time.”
The concluding half of Season 7, premiering Nov. 22 on Starz, begins with the couple returning to Jamie's homeland of Scotland, before America — and the rebel cause in the Revolutionary War — calls again, testing their marriage like never before.
“Returning home obviously is going to be so rewarding for Jamie, but also for the fans,” Heughan said, “because I think the fans, they get to see a lot of, their favorite characters and their favorite locations.”
The latest episodes weave in storylines involving Claire and Jamie’s time-traveling daughter Brianna and her husband Roger (Sophie Skelton and Richard Rankin) and Jamie’s nephew Ian (John Bell), as well as Jamie’s secret son William (Charles Vandervaart) and the British lord who is raising him.
Season 7 also features one of Heughan's favorite co-stars — one he confirms fans won’t be seeing in Season 8.
“It’s actually the last time you see Sleepy,” Heughan says. “He was my horse throughout first seasons. And he’s a black Friesian with a white spot on him. And actually, if you look closely, he somehow transports himself to America as well because he doubles up as a horse in America. But yeah, I mean, we say goodbye to a lot of locations, a lot of characters in Season 7B.”
With the last season still to come, and the “Outlander” universe expanding with the upcoming prequel “Outlander: Blood of My Blood,” the story will continue for fans — although Balfe and Heughan will be getting used to their “Droughtlander,” the term fans coined for periods without the show.
“It has been our lives for the last 11 years. We’ve built families and homes in Scotland,” said Heughan. “So, yes, it’s quite a change that we’re about to face.”