During a post-Outlander finale Q&A session at a Los Angeles Barnes & Noble Sunday, Diana Gabaldon, the author of the popular series, teased a few details about the upcoming second season and whether we can expect a third.
When asked what she was looking forward to seeing translated from book to screen in season two:
“I have actually already seen it — the scene in which Claire comes home from visiting her friend Louise and Jamie is horrified by what happened there. They did it very well.”
She confirmed that book two will not be split into two seasons.
She couldn’t confirm a premiere date for Outlander 2.0 but mentioned that she was hearing April 2016, and also put to rest rumors that the second book might be split into two seasons. “They will handle the whole book in one season. Don’t worry. They did a good job with it. I have seen the outlines for all of the episodes and several of the scripts, so I know how [they are structuring it], but it is way too detailed and complicated to try to tell you.”
Claire’s WWII-era husband, Frank, will get more screen time.
“There seems to be more in the show about Frank [and her relationship with him] than there is in the book. [Showrunner] Ron [D. Moore] likes Frank. That’s basically what it comes down to. He also likes Tobias [Menzies], and giving Tobias an opportunity to do anything interests him. He is fantastic. He was interested in maintaining the tension of that triangle between Jamie, Claire, and Frank, and making more of it than we made of it in the first book partly because of the condensed nature of a TV show. In the books, we weren’t going to see Frank again for a long time, and therefore I didn’t need to keep bringing him back to people’s attention, whereas this is 16 weeks’ worth of episodes. You’re not going to have forgotten Frank, and if you are going to see him again fairly quickly, you need to keep him in mind every now and then and maintain this relationship even though it is not front and center. Claire married Frank and vowed to love him. She continues to love him and acknowledges the importance of that relationship. Jamie is secure enough in his love to recognize and honor that.”
Will the third book, Voyager, be adapted into a third season?
“I can’t say anything definite. From the conversations I have had from the people who work on it, I get the distinct feeling that they expect there to be a third season. They don’t know that yet, either, but you can’t help thinking ahead. Given that they have broken the show for Dragonfly all the way through, you have to design the end with the expectation that there will be another beginning so of course they are thinking about it and planning for it. I hope it does. That’s up to you guys. If people go on watching it. Starz is happy to go on making it.”
