“There’s always another war,” says star Caitriona Balfe, previewing the upcoming season.
What is it good for?
Storytelling onOutlander, it seems.
The Fraser family at home on the Ridge on ‘Outlander’.Starz
The hitStarzseries plunges the Fraser clan and viewers into war for their seventh season,supersized at 16 episodes.
“We’ve left her in this prison,” says Balfe.
“Her future is very precarious.
Brianna (Sophie Skelton), Lord John Grey (David Berry) and young William (Charles Vandervaart) on ‘Outlander’.Starz
We don’t really know what’s going to happen.
All we know is that the normal systems of law have broken down.”
Still, don’t expectOutlanderto merely tack on those last four episodes to the start of season 7.
Rachel Hunter (Izzy Meikle-Small) and young Ian (John Bell) on ‘Outlander’.Starz
“There are some major story threads from [season] 6,” says executive producer Matthew Roberts.
We had to rewrite them completely to get them into new stories going forward."
Those new stories mean it’s out of the whiskey barrel and into the bottle for the Fraser family.
Brianna (Sophie Skelton) and Roger (Richard Rankin) on ‘Outlander’.Starz
“The kitchen sink is what you’re free to expect,” teases Roberts.
“We load that kitchen sink up with everything.
We finally get to the Revolutionary War and how it affects all of our characters.”
Adds Balfe: “This season is so epic.
It’s the season that’s closest to season 1 in terms of the scope and the span.”
“The Hunters are a lovely, different take,” teases Davis.
With such violence comes a host of new dangers, including a twist on the show’s big bads.
), season 7 explodes the concept of who is friend or foe.
“Season 7 is all about fractured villains,” Davis says.
“A supersized season calls for supersized villains or multi-pronged villains.”
Claire and Jamie are no strangers to that, but they now have an extended family to worry about.
“They’re very accustomed to war,” says Roberts.
“The very first scene we ever filmed ofOutlanderwas Claire in World War II.
It’s how war affects their loved ones more than it affects them.”
Indeed, for both Claire and Jamie, the familiarity of war allows them to thrive.
“It’s a skill and it’s a strength, but it’s also a wound.
We’ve seen Claire in this position before.
In the time of war, life becomes very immediate.
She can see that a lot of these things are weighing very heavily on Jamie.
But Claire is not just that.
Oddly enough, the Revolution is a fresh start for her.
“She relishes that this is something that she’s very good at,” adds Balfe.
“We see her in her groove in a weird way.
It’s obviously a very precarious time, but it’s also where her skills are very useful.”
With that renewed sense of purpose comes a more empowered, more whole Claire.
“Last season was a real tough one for Claire.
We saw the breakdown of her psyche,” says Balfe.
“Even though there’s a lot of danger, it’s healing.
Her self-destruction was almost necessary because her old mechanisms for coping no longer served her.
That helps with how she processes and how she heals from things.”
Of course, it wouldn’t beOutlanderwithout the looming prospect of time travel.
“We did go all out,” pledges Roberts.
“It’s one of the most emotional seasons.
There’s a lot of heartbreak and joy and disappointment.
Everything you want in a drama, it’s all there.”
Okay, but what about Jamie in a kilt?
Outlanderseason 7 premieres Friday, June 16, on Starz.
