[Editor’s note: The following contains spoilers for Outlander Season 8, Episode 3.]

Summary

‘Outlander’ is bidding an emotional farewell with Season 8, and Caitriona Balfe is grateful for the privilege of getting to be a part of the fan favorite series.

Claire miraculously saves a twin in Ep.3 — an inexplicable, possibly magical moment she must reckon with.

Season 8 balances warm family reunions with trauma, Frank’s shadow looms, and the inevitable arrival of war is coming.

In episode three of Season 8 of the Starz series Outlander, Claire Fraser (Caitriona Balfe) had to step in to help a young Black girl whose mother was on the verge of giving birth to twins, as the result of a very high-risk pregnancy. While delivering the babies, it seemed as though one was not going to make it, until something inexplicable and possibly magical happened at the hands of Claire. Something that neither Claire nor Jamie fully understand, but that Claire will likely have to come to terms with before the final season is over. During this one-on-one interview with Collider, Balfe discussed the experience of saying goodbye to a TV series that was such a huge part of her life for so many years, shooting different endings for the finale, how lovely it was to have a happy family reunion so early in the season, the presence of Frank Randall hanging over Jamie’s possible fate, shooting the bear mauling and the birth of Ian and Rachel’s child in the same episode, the fun of watching Claire and Jamie (Sam Heughan) bicker over what happened with John Grey (David Berry), the bond with Fanny, and what really happened when Claire saved that twin. She also talked about being unsure whether she’ll be doing any comedy or a musical in the future but mentioned her excitement over her next role in the period drama The Housekeeper. Collider: Does it feel like you’ve wrapped this series ages ago now, or does it still feel very recent? CAITRIONA BALFE: No. We wrapped almost a year and a half ago. These first few episodes we filmed two years ago, so that feels like quite a while ago. It’s weird, there was that first phase of saying goodbye to it all, and now this feels like the next phase.
Caitriona Balfe Is Grateful for the Privilege of Playing Claire Over 8 Seasons of ‘Outlander’

“It’s just been such an amazing, wild ride.”

If the you on day one of all this knew what the full journey would be and what the last day would be like and how it would all end, would you have even believed any of that? BALFE: No. When I think back to 2013, when we started, it’s just so mad. I had no idea. And thank God, because I think I would have just been so overwhelmed with the idea that it was going to be the next 10 or 11 years of my life. But what a privilege. It’s just been such an amazing, wild ride. I just feel so grateful for it all. It’s such an unusual experience because you do get to play this character so thoroughly and through so many years and parts of her life. Even if you do a series for a long period of time, you don’t typically get that kind of time span. BALFE: Yeah. I think it’s 30 years of her life, and then within those 30 years, she crosses so many different decades. It was such an amazing privilege and an amazing opportunity. Shows don’t happen very often where you get to live with the characters for this long. It’s been an amazing journey.

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You’ve also done very different types of projects between seasons and since the series has finished. Those projects have not only been very different from Outlander, but very different from each other. Do you know what you’re going to shoot next? Is there a genre that you’d love to work in that you haven’t gotten the opportunity to play in yet? BALFE: I’ve never done comedy, but I don’t know if that’s in my wheelhouse. I’m probably not going to do a musical anytime soon. I’m so grateful that, in the last six months, I’ve gotten to do three different projects which were this amazing variety. And I’m about to start filming something in a couple of weeks. That, to me, is the real excitement, that I get to do these very different things. After being in such a long-running series, I’m quite cautious about signing up to something that’s a long time again, without knowing that I’m going to love it as much as I loved Outlander. To go back season after season to something, you’ve got to know that you are so invested and so in love with the character. I don’t know. It’s been a nice year since we finished. Can you say what it is you’re shooting next or what kind of projects it is? BALFE: It’s a period drama. It’s 1930s. It’s a film called The Housekeeper, and I’m excited about it. We know that different endings were filmed for the show, and you didn’t know which would end up being used. How many different endings did you actually shoot? Were they very different? Do they all have the same feel to them? BALFE: I don’t know the answer to that because there are some things that were filmed that I wasn’t a part of. For Matt, it was important that he got to choose what he wanted without the peanut gallery of all of us going, “We want this” or “We want that.” I think ultimately, we all just want the fans to be happy, and if we can achieve that, then that’s going to be the greatest thing. I do not envy the job that Matt had in trying to shepherd this to the end. Heavy is the load who wears the crown, right? This is a series that has always gotten some happy moments before things get dark. This season, one of those moments is the reunion with Brianna and her family. What was it like to have that reunion and to have those moments happen so early on, with them all getting to spend time together again? BALFE: It was so lovely. We hadn’t worked with Sophie [Skelton] and Richard [Rankin] in quite a while. We’d all been on these various different storylines, so it was like a real reunion. It was really exciting for all of us to be together. Maybe we were all messing quite a bit and being quite naughty. I think it was really important, in the last season, that the family comes together. It’s a very important thing for Jamie and Claire’s to feel the love of their extended family.
Frank Randall Will Continue To Play a Role in the Final Season of ‘Outlander’

“Is this a way of torturing Claire?”

Tobias Menzies as Frank Randall in a suit and tie looking concerned in Outlander Season 3Image via Starz

We see how hard it is for Jamie to see how much Frank Randall looked like Black Jack. He also learns that Frank has written about his death. Is it hard to escape something like that? Is that going to continue to hold a bit of a black cloud over the season? BALFE: I think so. It’s really interesting, the kind of psychological terror that that brings to Jamie. Jamie’s reaction is one way, and then Claire has this other reaction to it. For her, she made this contract with Frank to put Jamie aside, to not go looking for him, and to forget about him, even though she couldn’t in her heart, and that they would raise Brianna as their own. And then, to find out that all that time, Frank had gone looking for him, potentially found him, and knew that he was alive and didn’t tell her. So, there’s this question mark over its validity. Is this a way of torturing Claire? Is it a way of keeping her in her other time? I think it’s very complex. This niggle of what could be is a very destructive element that goes into play. In episode two, Amy gets attacked and mauled by a bear and Claire can’t do anything to help. It’s such a tragically sad moment because it’s so quick and so random. What was it like to shoot all of that? Is a moment like that particularly painful for Claire when she can’t change or stop what’s happening? BALFE: Yeah. Any time she is unable to save somebody, it’s a heartbreak for her. What I thought was interesting about that is that you have this lovely moment between all the women, and it feels like a very pastoral, bucolic moment where they’re all just picking berries, and then you’re faced with the fact that, at any moment, life can be snatched away. The foreboding of that scene is that we have these very sweet, wholesome moments, and then the rug gets ripped from under you. That’s the Outlander way, in some ways, isn’t it?

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It was also such a very Outlander thing to balance out that death with delivering Ian’s son. Was it nice to share that moment together, and to have the happiness that comes with a family that wants their child and experiences that joy of life to offset this tragic death? BALFE: Yeah. The circle of life never stops rolling. For Ian especially, who had lost children before, this moment between himself and Rachel is so beautiful. That they are now starting their family and that it’s within this larger family in this community is a really beautiful thing. And for Claire to be there and be a part of that and to be able to help in that way and be successful in helping, whereas she wasn’t with Amy, that’s all an important thing.
Claire Is Having a Bit of Fun Bantering With Jamie Over His Jealousy in ‘Outlander’ Season 8

“Those scenes are very funny.”

Sam Heughan as Jamie sitting on the back of a wagon next to Caitriona Balfe as Claire in Outlander Season 8Image via Starz

Claire, having been with Lord John Grey is something that comes up again this season in a very big way for Jamie and Claire. I always find it particularly interesting to see the moments when Claire’s more modern sensibilities still clash with how Jamie views things. What do you love most about where they’re at together in this final season? BALFE: I think those scenes are very funny, and Jamie is very funny in them. And who can blame him, really. Claire is very like, “God, are you not over this yet? Come on!” Give him some slack. It’s not the easiest thing to get over. There are the funny moments when Brianna finds out. You see that Claire enjoys the humor of the situation slightly too. I think Jamie should be given more credit for how understanding he’s been, or is trying to be, because it’s not an easy thing for anyone to get past. I love the moment went Brianna says, “I don’t have to call him da now, do I?” I just thought that was the best. BALFE: It’s very funny, yeah.

This season, we also get to see Claire form a relationship and bond with Fanny. It’s so interesting to see where that’s going because you can see Fanny’s interest and curiosity in things, and she clearly likes Claire and Jamie and wants to be part of this family, but she’s also seen more than someone her age should ever have to. What was it like to find that relationship? What did you enjoy about finding that between them and working with that young actress who just has the most expressive face? BALFE: Isn’t she incredible? Florrie May Wilkinson is just brilliant. When she joined the show last season, we were all like, “Holy shit! This girl has got chops.” It was great. It was great that the writers knew that they could give her this weightier material and that she would be more than capable of handling it all. The storyline, in some ways, with having Fanny and the family and Claire and Jamie building a relationship with her, is helping heal their wounds from Faith. And then, for Fanny, or for Frances, she has seen so much. She has been so traumatized. It’s hard for her to trust, and it’s hard for her to let our guard down. There’s this very tentative building of confidence and trust between them. I think they just want to provide her with this loving family. They’re tiptoeing around how much they can pry and how much they can tell her. It’s lovely. She’s interested in what Claire’s doing, and she’s very bright. She’s just a beautiful addition to the show, I think. There’s something so magical about just watching her reactions to things without even having to say anything. BALFE: She’s a very, very talented young actress. She’s really incredible.

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In episode three, Claire gets approached by the young Black girl whose mother needs help because she’s pregnant with twins. What was all that like to figure out? Claire delivers these children and she’s able to save this little girl that she thought was dead, but she doesn’t really quite understand why or how. What does all of that mean to Claire and for Claire? BALFE: Good questions. There’s always been these special energy moments within Claire’s life. We’ve seen them peppered throughout the show. She’s a time traveler. She’s had these connections to things and these understandings of things. We never knew why she was able to [do] these things or not. With the babies, it’s quite a shocking moment, but I don’t think it’s necessarily out of the blue. For Claire, how does she come to terms with the understanding of what has happened? It’s a further evolution of other things that have happened in her life. I’m not sure that she fully understands it yet, at this point.
No One Can Hide From What’s Coming to the Ridge in ‘Outlander’ Season 8

“Sometimes the inevitable just has to happen.”

Caitriona Balfe, Sam Heughan, Sophie Skelton, and Richard Rankin standing together in Outlander Season 8Image via Starz

What would you say than to tease what fans can expect from the remainder of the season? The first three episodes set up a lot of things that will continue to come up. How do you think fans will feel throughout the rest of this season? BALFE: To tease some of the stuff, I think they returned to the Ridge because they wanted to protect themselves and their family from the world events that were going on around them. But you can only hide from things happening like that for so long. Sometimes the inevitable just has to happen. As we know, the war can come to their door. Eventually, they’re going to have to face a lot of things and not just try and hide from it.

Release Date

2014 – 2026-00-00

Showrunner

Matthew B. Roberts

Directors

John Dahl, Metin Hüseyin, Jamie Payne, Stephen Woolfenden, Anna Foerster, Brendan Maher, Brian Kelly, David Moore, Jennifer Getzinger, Mike Barker, Philip John, Joss Agnew, Lisa Clarke, Jan Matthys, Ben Bolt, Charlotte Brändström, Christiana Ebohon-Green, Denise Di Novi, Douglas Mackinnon, Julian Holmes, Norma Bailey, Richard Clark, Justin Molotnikov, Stewart Svaasand

Writers

Toni Graphia, Matthew B. Roberts, Ronald D. Moore, Luke Schelhaas, Anne Kenney, Karen Campbell, Shannon Goss, Joy Blake, Richard Kahan, Jennifer Yale, Megan Ferrell Burke, Ira Steven Behr, Diana Gabaldon

Jack Tarlton

Kenny Lindsay

John Sessions

Arthur Duncan

Outlander airs on Starz.