SPOILER ALERT: The following reveals major plot points from the series finale of Starz‘s Outlander.
It’s the end of an era now that the heartbreaking yet hopeful series finale for the hit Starz period drama Outlander is out in the world. While it is a conclusion, showrunner, writer and executive producer Matthew B. Roberts leaves us with a little hope in our hearts that one day, perhaps a film could continue the love story of Jamie (Sam Heughan) and Claire Fraser (Caitríona Balfe).
As we noted in our recap of the finale episode, titled “And the World Was All Around Us,” Jamie is shot and killed by Patrick Ferguson, who led the troops against Jamie and his men and lost at the Battle of Kings Mountain. Ferguson was captured, and when Jamie asked him to surrender, Ferguson revealed a gun he had hidden by his side, which he used to end Jamie’s life. While Jamie does indeed take his last breath on the battlefield, his wife Claire never leaves his side. She pours all her love and grief into him— and also her magical powers.
Just as the viewer has given up on him surviving somehow, which can also be said for Claire, who looked like she had also passed on, both take a huge breath of air, revealing they both survived by episode’s end. There have been questions on social media as to whether the couple awakens together in the afterlife, and here’s what Roberts has to say.
“I’m not telling you a thing. I’m telling you, you get to interpret it. Every single person who watches that show gets to decide for themselves,” Roberts said during a chat Thursday. “I deliberately wanted to leave it to the fans to decide.”
Sam Heughan as Jamie Fraser and Caitríona Balfe as Claire Fraser in the series finale of ‘Outlander’
Starz
Jamie was certainly brave in the days leading up to the battle that Frank (Tobias Menzies) predicted in his history book would be the day Jamie dies. The day prior: Jamie woke up next to Claire, wrote his last will and testament, said goodbye to his family that he loves so dearly, then met with his men as was planned and headed off to fight with Claire by his side. Many others, we could assume, would stay as far away from guns and war if their death had been foreseen.
“As Jamie has said in earlier episodes, he had to do this because he’s not going to let a book keep him from fighting. He said, ‘I have to make this place safe for my family’,” Roberts said.
He continued, “The alternative would be, if they lose that battle, then things could go horribly wrong for the Continental Army, and he didn’t know if there would be retribution on his land and all the people who live there, meaning his family. So he chose to fight. He’s an honorable guy, and he gave Cleveland [Turlough Convery] his word that he would fight Ferguson when the time came. As you know, Jamie’s a man of his word.”
Claire was also brave in the face of death, knowing that both she and Jamie were in major danger.
“She just says, ‘I’m going, and I’m fighting with him.’ Yeah, she’s right in the middle of the battle. There was no chance she wasn’t going up on that hill,” Roberts said. “And that’s that great moment with Roger [Richard Rankin] when she’s like, “Don’t you even…”
After all was said and done, there was a special after-credits scene featuring Diana Gabaldon, whose Outlander book series was the basis of the TV show. She was surrounded by fans waiting in line to get their Outlander books signed. Roberts shared insight into the love and respect that went into the making of that scene.
“It was a fun way of doing two things at the same time,” he said. “Everybody in the bookstore had worked on the show from day one. That was our crew that had been there who worked all through eight seasons for 12 years with us. So that was a thank you to them. And all the books actually in the bookstore were titled with their jobs, and they were written by them. So we gave those to them because we thought it was a lovely way to say, ‘Thank you for building this world. You also deserve to be in it.’ Diana created the world; these are her characters and her story. So we wanted to close that loop and also say thank you. The last image on Outlander is hers.”
One thing the finale does for sure is leave fans wanting more. There are still so many stories to tell for each of these characters, and Roberts agrees.
“The answer is no,” Roberts said when asked if he got to tell all the stories he wanted to tell. “There was so much more material. We would never have enough time to do it all. So if you’re asking, would we like more time to do it? Sure, there’s an appetite. We’d love to give it to them. Caitríona and Sam have played these same characters day in and day out for 12 years. That’s a long time. And Outlander is not an easy show. You’re not going to a doctor’s office or a lawyer’s office every day, where you’re sitting in. We ask for a lot across the board. They’re riding horses. They’re fighting, they’re in mud, they’re cold. They should explore what’s out there for them. As they’ve said and I’ve said, and Maril [Davis] has said, never say never.”
When I asked if that meant perhaps a movie one day would be possible, Roberts replied, “Maybe.”