Good news, Sassenachs: Outlander is in ‘early talks’ for season 5
It looks like Jamie and Claire’s epic, time and space-defying romance will continue for at least another two seasons.
Consider this an early Christmas present, Sassenachs. Entertainment Weekly reports that Sony TV head Chris Parnell is, like us, all in on Outlander.
Parnell, who is the co-president of Sony TV, the studio that produces Outlander for Starz, told EW’s radio show Outlander Live! that there are currently “early talks” for a fifth season (the fourth season is already in production).
Parnell said:
"In order to keep this show year by year and not have a Droughtlander, we had better start hustling on season 5 right now. I can tell you there are early talks on us doing that, to absolutely not have an extended Droughtlander like we’ve had before. That’s the goal."
Oh, thank sweet Murtagh for that. I know I speak for much of the pop culture landscape when I say that the gap in the middle of season 1 and the 14-month wait between seasons 2 and 3 were painful. So I’m 100 percent onboard for advance renewals. The less we have to worry about Outlander‘s fate, the more we can worry about Claire and Jamie’s. Just kidding, they’re obviously going to be together forever, right? Right?!
And Parnell isn’t just committed to season 5: he’s in it for the long haul, just like the Outlander books’ author, Diana Gabaldon:
"We want to deliver Outlander all the way through, just like Diana wants to deliver it all the way through. Where she leads it, we want to bring it there … The worst thing that can happen is if we ended this prematurely."
Outlander‘s current third season — of which there are two more episodes — is based on Gabaldon’s third book, Voyager. Eight Outlander books have been published so far and Gabaldon says there will be 10 tomes in all. Ergo, if all goes according to Parnell’s plan, we’ll get to spend at least another seven years with Caitriona Balfe and Sam Heughan.
Oh, yeah, Santa definitely dropped by early this year. (Unless season 5 is heavy on Bree and Roger, that is. Then I would have to attribute the renewal talks to Krampus.)
Next: Outlander S3E11 recap and review: Uncharted
Outlander airs Sundays at 8 p.m. ET on Starz.