What Outlander's New Opening Credits Teach Us About Season 5

Ahead of Outlander's season five premiere in February, we're breaking down the show's new opener, and looking for clues about the episodes ahead.

Outlander's musical intro remains the incredibly catchy "Skye Boat Song."

As always, the tune has been adapted for the show's fifth season. Now, the traditional Scottish folk song features not only a chorus of female voices (as opposed in previous seasons, when it was sung by one voice), but male singers as well, perhaps symbolizing the community Claire and Jamie are forming at Fraser's Ridge.

It's also sung almost entirely a cappella this season, which again, is a shift from previous versions of the theme song, which have always heavily featured instruments. In past seasons, those instruments have helped to give the song a sense of place: bagpipes in Scotland, Afro-Caribbean percussion in, well, the Caribbean, and the banjo, mandolin, and fiddle, as the story moves into the Appalachian Mountains.

In addition to the Skye Boat Song, there are a few pieces of footage that remain consistent from season to season.

For example, the druids are still dancing around the stones with their lanterns, and Claire's legs, covered in dirt, are still shown running through the woods. The credits also end with a familiar shot of the stone circle in Scotland, illustrating where this story began.

But gone is the deer that looked straight to camera in previous versions of the theme song; that animal has been replaced with footage of bison, representing the fauna of the American colonies.

Courtesy of Starz

A pair of bison.

War is a common theme in the new imagery in the credits.

Clips include British soldiers in their iconic red coats and what seems to be a wounded man being carried off a battlefield. Both these scenes hint at the beginning of the American Revolution, which will be at the center of this season's plot as Jamie struggles to uphold his agreement with Governor Tryon and remain loyal to his people, and especially Murtagh.

Courtesy of Starz

The red coats, ready to fight.

But a playful scene shows two women running across a beach.

It's difficult to tell, but the footage appears to be of Brianna and Lizzie on the shore.

Courtesy of Starz

Two women running across the shoreline, possibly Lizzie and Brianna.

We never see the characters' unobstructed faces.

But there are several shots of the show's main characters from behind. First, we see Claire looking out the window, perhaps as Jamie heads off to battle. Then, there's the image of Jamie from behind in the woods. And two of the last scenes previewed in the credits show Brianna and Roger and Claire and Jamie looking out over the landscape, and into the future.

Courtesy of Starz

Jamie and Claire looking out at the landscape.

Close-ups of fingers also feature prominently throughout the theme sequence. Notably, there are several moments where characters hold hands, but it's difficult to tell exactly who is sharing a tender moment. Additionally, there a shot of someone's hands using a microscope, and obscured footage of Claire examining what looks like a gemstone (a requirement for traveling through the stones), or a small piece of glass.

Possibly foreshadowing trouble ahead, at one point, the audience sees a hand holding a version of the Hanged Man tarot card, which can symbolize not only sacrifice, but also being suspended in time. More literally, it could represent death, as hanging was a common form of corporal punishment in the American colonies during this time.