Outlander season 5 cast hint at new storylines – weddings, battles and Jamie/Roger tension
From tensions between Jamie and Roger, to battles and no less than TWO weddings, Outlander's cast and crew tell RadioTimes.com about five upcoming storylines
Time-travelling series Outlander is finally back for a fifth season. Following the Frasers as they make their home in pre-revolutionary North Carolina, the series will mainly be based on The Fiery Cross, the fifth book in the Outlander series of novels by Diana Gabaldon.
However, with twists, turns and plenty of deviations from the books (hello again, Murtagh), you never know what to expect with the TV adaptation - except, of course, when members of the cast and crew chat to RadioTimes.com and tease a few crucial storylines...
1. There's tension between Jamie and son-in-law Roger
Speaking to RadioTimes.com, Richard Rankin (Roger) has revealed that there'll be plenty of residual tension between his character and Jamie this season, especially after their last on-screen meeting, when Jamie failed to convince Roger to immediately rejoin Brianna, before branding his son-in-law a "coward"...
"That's a huge element of season five... Roger and Jamie's story this season is a very exciting one, it's a lot of fun, they - I'm not gonna give anything away particularly but it's a huge aspect of season five, and Sam [Heughan] and I have had a lot of fun playing it this season," Rankin said.
He continued: "The evolution of Roger and Jamie's relationship... has its ups and downs, there's peaks and troughs, but it's really, really good, it's great, I think it's gonna be one that the fans and the viewers really enjoy watching and seeing come to life."
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Asked whether Roger is often reminded of the fact that he didn't immediately return to Brianna's side after learning about her rape and pregnancy, he said: "God, is he reminded of that! Every day. Every day is he battered over the head with the fact that he didn't come back straight away, that he had a bit of thinking to do. It's certainly on people's minds [in show]."
2. There will be TWO weddings - including Roger and Brianna's
Outlander costume designer Trisha Biggar confirmed to RadioTimes.com that Roger and Brianna will have an outdoors wedding at Fraser's Ridge this season, describing Brianna's "buttermilk" coloured dress - before teasing another, mystery wedding...
Asked about what other costumes viewers should look out for, she said: "Well there's a second wedding... There's a variety of quite interesting things happen as we go on. Brianna's going to have a really great dress at one point, later on, and yeah, there's quite a lot to look forward to."
Could Aunt Jocasta and Murtagh tie the knot this season? Or else could Claire and Jamie be tempted to renew their vows?
However, we've also had a glimpse of what looks like a lavish wedding set-up in the series five trailer - almost certainly not outside Fraser's Ridge - suggesting that whoever is getting married has cash to burn. While Aunt Jocasta herself is rich, might she have bagged herself an even richer husband (while almost certainly still pining for Murtagh)?
3. We'll see flashbacks to Scotland!
Although the show's main action will be set in North Carolina, Outlander executive producer Matthew B. Roberts told RadioTimes.com that we'll have flashbacks set in Scotland.
"We actually have made an effort this season to dip our toe back into Scotland. There will be flashbacks," he said. "It feels like for the first three seasons, Scotland was such an important character for the show, that it's hard not to utilise that character and call Scotland on to be a guest cast member, so to speak."
And we already know that the first scene of season five will return us to Scotland, after the show dropped a clip on social media showing Murtagh comforting a young Jamie Fraser.
4. There will be a "Stephen King-esque" horror episode
Speaking to RadioTimes.com, Outlander executive producer Matthew B. Roberts also teased a "horror film kind of epsiode" in season five.
"This season, we have one that's extremely creepy - it's almost Stephen King-esque," he said. "Well, I probably shouldn't use another author, but he's a good one, so... A horror film kind of episode that we haven't really delved into before, but it was there in the book so we pulled it out and dove into that genre.
"What's special about a show like Outlander is that you almost don't know what you're going to get when you tune in," he added.
5. There's going to be another battle...
Series writer Toni Graphia has teased another battle later down the line in season five, along with plenty of other challenges that the Frasers will face...
Speaking to RadioTimes.com, she said: "Each season, it's not, what are they [Claire and Jamie] fighting over... they're together and they're fighting the outside world, so whether that's the environment - there's challenges with the weather and the environment - and things that happen on the Ridge to their land, there's medical stuff that happens, there's political stuff, corruption, there's a battle at some point."
With the American War of Independence looming, the season's antagonist Governor Tryon (Tim Downie) is keen for Jamie to fulfil his oath to help the English crown - and in the season five trailer we see our hero return to the battlefield, stony-faced and dressed as a redcoat.
Outlander season 5 is set to air on Starz from Sunday 16th February, with each episode airing on Amazon Prime in the UK the day after its US release
