And just like that, we’re back in Droughtlander territory! Outlander’s season seven mid-season finale has finally landed, leaving us on cliffhangers with our favourite characters as - and spoiler alert if you still need to catch up - Jamie and Claire return to Scotland, while Roger goes through the stones to find his and Brianna’s son, Jemmy. To discuss the latest episode, we sat down with the drama’s executive producer Maril Davis, who answered all of our burning questions about the show…
Speaking about Claire, Jamie and Ian returning to Scotland in the emotional final moments of the episode, Maril shared an incredible detail about filming, saying: "Actually, weirdly we filmed the moment Jamie and Claire and Ian come pop up on the deck of the boat to see Scotland for the first time way back in season one because we're using the ship... So actually, we filmed that final moment in the first block… That was one of the first things we shot which is crazy." Watch the full chat with Maril here…
She continued: "It's such a full circle moment. Certainly for Jamie and Ian, even for Claire, even though, that's not necessarily where she's from, Scotland, it's where our story started… So it's a full circle moment and it's been about nine or ten years since Jamie and Ian have been home… The fact that we've been shooting the show for that long kind of tells you it’s a weird kind of parallel moment for all of us."
Maril also revealed why the TV show made a major change to the book in the mid-season finale, when Jamie is injured in battle. In the novel, Claire is forced to amputate Jamie’s finger, but in the show, he is simply injured and recovers with the full use of his hand. Speaking about the decision to change this key detail, Maril explained: "We just decided [against it due to] certain things like [CGI] and, obviously, we certainly had Jamie's hand from season one and carry that on with the scars.
"But there are certain things that are really kind of tough to do as we move forward and losing the finger was something. Visual effects-wise, it’s just time, money. Also, for Sam [Heughan] to have to wear a sleeve, it’s not something we felt we wanted to burden him with for the rest of the season and then going into the last season."
She also touched upon the emotion behind the show ending after such a long run. "I have so many mixed feelings going into the last season," Maril explained. "It’s so bittersweet. Obviously, we knew it had to end at some point. In season one, we did not imagine we'd be lucky enough to go eight seasons. But I'm very sad about it, but also very excited to film that last chapter and go on to new things. Obviously, we've got the prequel but it's really very sad."
Outlander S7, part 1 is now available on LIONSGATE+.