Summary
- Outlander season 6 brings the American Revolution to Fraser's Ridge with new characters and adventures for Claire and Jamie's family.
- Fan-favorite characters like Claire, Jamie, Brianna, Roger, Marsali, Fergus, Ian, and the Christie family face new challenges and betrayals.
- Season 7 delves deeper into the American Revolution while maintaining connections to the past, setting the stage for the final season 8.
Revolution comes to Fraser’s Ridge in Outlander season 6, and a new cast of characters joins Claire and Jamie’s story. Based on author Diana Gabaldon’s best-selling Outlander series, the upcoming season is based on the series’ sixth book, A Breath of Snow and Ashes. Although Outlander season 6 only has eight episodes, the season is filled with plenty more time-traveling adventures. Recent seasons of Outlander have seen Claire and Jamie cross the Atlantic to settle in America, establishing their homestead, Fraser’s Ridge, in North Carolina.
Outlander tells the story of Claire, a World War II nurse on holiday in Scotland with her husband, Frank in 1945. While visiting the stone circle, Craigh Na Dun, Claire is magically transported back to the year 1743, where she meets and falls in love with Jamie Fraser. When Claire finally has a chance to return to her time, she finds she cannot leave Jamie and stays until the Battle of Culloden threatens her and the couple’s unborn child. Claire returns to the future long enough to raise their daughter, Brianna, then time-travels back to Jamie, followed soon after by both Brianna and Brianna’s boyfriend, Roger.
How The Outlander Book Series Lines Up With Each Season Of The Show (& What Changes)
The Outlander book series by Diana Gabaldon is the inspiration behind the epic Starz TV show but which novels are the source of which season?
Caitriona Balfe
As Claire Fraser (née Randall)
Caitriona Balfe plays time-traveling nurse, Claire Randall Fraser. Claire and Jamie work hard to build their homestead on Fraser’s Ridge throughout Outlander season 5, including Claire’s surgery. Taking on the pseudonym Dr. Rawlings, Claire brings medical information from the future to 18th-century North Carolina, much to her peril. When Lionel Brown discovers her alter-ego, he and a band of other settlers kidnap Claire, and she suffers several attacks on her person and spirit before Jamie arrives to rescue her.
Outlander season 6 sees Claire’s character back at Fraser’s Ridge, beginning the long journey to recovery while preparing for the future only she truly knows: the onset of the American Revolution. While she and her family are trying to adjust to life in a colony on the brink of war, however, Claire is framed for murder
Though Balfe is best known for her role as Outlander’s Claire Fraser, she also starred in the Oscar-nominated Belfast. Her role as Ma opposite 50 Shades of Grey’s Jamie Dornan led to multiple awards and nominations, including Best Supporting Actress nominations at the SAG, Golden Globes, and BAFTA. She was also seen in 2019’s Ford v Ferrari with Christian Bale and Matt Damon.
Sam Heughan
As Jamie Fraser
The Outlander season 6 cast would not be complete without Jamie Fraser, the Scottish Highlander who steals Claire’s heart in 1743, played by Sam Heughan. Jamie spent Outlander season 5 torn between fulfilling his obligation to Governor Tryon in exchange for the massive acreage for Fraser’s Ridge and trying to protect his life-long friend, Murtagh (Duncan Lacroix of Vikings), leader of the Regulators.
After Claire’s kidnappers are massacred by Jamie and his clan in the season 5 finale (and Marsali finishes off Lionel Brown), Lionel Brown’s brother, Richard, is positioned to become (one of) Jamie’s foes in Outlander season 6. Of course, Jamie also has new challenges in season 6 as an "Indian Agent" and then in season 7 as a soldier in the Revolutionary War.
Sam Heughan also stars in Starz’s Men in Kilts: A Roadtrip with Sam and Graham with fellow Outlander actor, Graham McTavish (McTavish played Dougal MacKenzie).
Sophie Skelton
As Brianna Randall Fraser Mackenzie
Sophie Skelton plays Brianna (Bree), the daughter of Claire and Jaime who was raised by Claire and her late-husband from the future, Frank. After her mother returns to the past to live with Jamie, Bree follows her and is attacked by Stephen Bonnet (Downton Abbey’s Ed Speleers) after her arrival in the 18th century. Outlander season 5 finally sees justice served for Brianna. Bree, Roger, and Jemmy all attempted to return to their time in season 5, but they were unsuccessful, returning to Fraser’s Ridge, renewed in their love for their home and family.
Brianna and Roger, do, however, eventually have to find a way to travel forward in time when their child's health is at risk. In season 7 they end up in the farthest future of the timeline the show has deigned to explore yet - the 1980s. While there, however, they still maintain a connection to their pasts.
Outside of Outlander, Sophie Skelton has primarily appeared in one-off episodes of different television series. Outlander may very well end up being her true breakout role.