‘Outlander’: Sam Heughan Spills on the 1 Secret He Is Keeping from Caitriona Balfe, Popping Up in the Prequel
Outlander star Sam Heughan is currently filming season 7 in Scotland with his co-star Caitriona Balfe. The 42-year-old actor says the experience of filming the “mega season” is “flying by.” But filming extra episodes means they probably won’t wrap until early next year.
How many episodes will there be in season 7? What does Heughan know about the upcoming Outlander prequel? And what is the big secret he’s keeping from his co-star? Let’s break down what Heughan recently revealed.
‘Outlander’ Season 7 is going to be ‘a big one’
Outlander Season 6 came and went in the blink of an eye. It featured just eight episodes of what was supposed to be a 14-episode season, according to Heughan. Filming was cut short due to the pandemic and Balfe’s pregnancy, so they added those six missing episodes to the beginning of season 7.
“It feels like we started yesterday but already we’re on our sixth episode,” Heughan told Esquire.
Heughan continued: “This season is going to take a while, it’s an 18-episode bumper mega season, so we probably won’t be finished until March or February of next year. It’s a big one this year, as last year we had to reduce it by six episodes because of Covid and my co-star was pregnant. So, we moved it.”
Sam Heughan is keeping a secret from Caitriona Balfe
Heughan admits that he never dreamed Outlander would become the global hit that it is. He remembers thinking on his first day that the job would probably last “a year, maybe two.”
Now, he’s been playing Jamie Fraser for nearly a decade. And it’s extremely likely that he will be starring in Outlander for three more seasons after season 7. That means Heughan is going to have to continue holding onto a huge secret for a few more years — one that he’s known since the very beginning of filming Outlander.
“Diana Gabaldon [the writer-creator] actually revealed to me how the whole thing’s going to end,” Heughan confessed. “She emailed me the last few pages of what will be the last book very early on, I think in the first few weeks of shooting and no one else has seen that I think, apart from one other exec producer. Even Caitríona’s not seen it, and I’m sworn to secrecy.”
Will Sam Heughan pop up in the ‘Outlander’ prequel?
It was revealed earlier this year that Starz had an Outlander prequel in development. But that doesn’t mean Heughan will be involved with the project. The actor says the prequel will focus on Jamie’s parents, Ellen and Brian.
“All I can tell you is I’m not in it, as Jamie’s not in it! I believe that it’s a prequel focusing on Jamie’s parents when they were younger, so I guess you might see a young version of him at some point,” Heughan said.
He continued: “But I think I may be a little too old to play young Jamie now! I could play his dad maybe, or a flash forward? It is time travel, after all.”
Outlander Seasons 1 through 5 are now playing on Netflix. Season 6 is available on the Starz app.
