After eight seasons, the time-travelling romance drama Outlander is set to conclude next spring, and the series' showrunner and executive producer, Matthew B. Roberts, revealed just how difficult it was to end the show.
The showrunner explained that he felt like he owed it to Outlander's loyal viewers to give them an ending that they wanted instead of basing his decisions purely on his own desires. Popular TV series often anger the audiences, and sometimes even ruin the entire show for its fans, by producing a bad finale. This was one of Roberts' fears and something he wanted to avoid, which is why he lost sleep throughout the process.
Roberts also expressed these concerns to Outlander's cast, crew, and creative team. He told them that season 8 shouldn't be overly dramatic or shocking, it has to be what the viewers who have been watching for a decade expect from them. He added that the final installment is special enough on its own, so they don't need to go overboard and risk losing the audience by taking things too far, as a lot of shows do in their last seasons.
I said to everybody, let’s try not to do that Very Special Outlander season. It’s already special. People have come to this show for a decade, let’s just do what we do, do it well, and give them something that they have come to expect.
Roberts also revealed that fans will get answers to most of their burnings questions pretty early on in Outlander season 8. The final chapter will reveal the fate of Claire’s daughter Faith and explain the source of Jamie’s time travel abilities. He added that the beginning of the season will throw a ton of information at the audience, which will set the tone for the remainder of the series.
The executive producer added that he always knew how the show would end. However, he did film several alternate endings for "security reasons."
You won’t have to wait long for a lot of them. We hit you with a pretty big wave of information right off the bat, and then that wave will hopefully carry you all the way to the end. There’s a lot of tension and turmoil, but there is a lot of resolution. I always had the ending in my head, but we also filmed a few [other] endings for security reasons.
Outlander season 8 will premiere on March 6, 2026, on Starz.
