‘Outlander’ season 8 release window, cast, plot, and more

Will the producers of Outlander stick to the beloved books for the show’s eighth and final season, or will they take a daring deviation? As the popular time-travel thriller draws to a close after 10 years, viewers are buzzing about the crucial question. But thanks to Sophie Skelton’s tantalizing hints at the SCAD TV Festival on Feb. 17, we might finally have some clues to unravel the mysteries ahead.

Outlander season 8 finished filming in September last year, yet, there’s no release date announced. But save the sad faces, with promising cast revelations, tantalizing plot hints, and even a release window to hold onto, there’s plenty to keep your excitement burning while you ride out the anticipation.

Outlander season 8 plot

Outlander season 7 has set the stage for the series to take its final leap in the eighth season, wrapping up Claire and Jamie’s epic love story for once and all. According to The Direct, the eighth season takes some inspiration from the unreleased final book of the original book series by Diana Gabaldon. However, it will largely be based on book 9, titled “Go Tell the Bees That I Am Gone,” which was released in 2021.

This was confirmed by showrunner and executive producer Maril Davis and Gabaldon herself in a roundtable interview at NYCC in Nov. 2024. On the panel, Davis revealed that “Season 8 will be book nine” while Gabaldon quickly added “[And] little pieces of book 10.”

But what exactly will happen in season 8? Sparing you all the book spoilers, we can only give away what Sophie Skelton teased in her recent interview. In the books, Roger and Brianna welcome a third child—a boy named David. When asked to comment whether David will make it to the TV screens, Skelton said,

“Yes, in the books, Brianna and Roger have another baby. As you know, we sometimes stick to the books, and we sometimes don’t. But I think it would be great if they had another child. And wearing the fake pregnancy bumps is super fun, so sign me up.” (via TV Line)

Outlander season 8 cast

Though we can bet baby MacKenzie is coming to the screen, only time will tell whether he will join the cast in season 8 or not. Currently, 11 cast members are confirmed to return in the upcoming season, including series leads Sam Heughan and Caitriona Balfe, AKA Jamie and Claire Fraser.

The lead stars will be joined by Sophie Skelton (Brianna), Richard Rankin (Roger), David Berry (Lord John), John Bell (Young Ian), Charles Vandervaart (William), Izzy Meikle-Small (Rachel), Lauren Lyle (Marsali) and Cesar Domboy (Fergus), and Diarmaid Murtagh (Buck).

Outlander release window

Outlander season 8 doesn’t have a release date yet, but looking at it’s release pattern, the final season can be anticipated to hit Starz somewhere around late 2025.

Diana Gabaldon on Outlander season 8

Gabaldon doesn’t have many complaints about the creative liberty taken by producers to end the series only after book 9. Commenting on the show’s ending, she said,

“It was interesting… I was not upset by it. It was not something I wrote, so I’m very objective about it. It was well done, I think it will work very nicely.” (via The Direct)

Gabaldon also teased that her book series will have “a very much more complicated end than the show will.” But, we can only be the judge after both Outlander season 8 and book 10 release.