‘Outlander’ Season 3: What We Should Expect

Warning: This article may contain Outlander Season 3 spoilers.

Outlander Season 3 won’t air until September, but that doesn’t mean we can’t make droughtlander more bearable by stitching together spoilers and speculating about what will become of Jamie (Sam Heughan) and Claire (Caitriona Balfe).

Since Outlander Season 3 is based on Voyager, the third book in Diana Gabaldon’s best-selling Outlander series, some of us already have clues about what’s to come. However, showrunner Ronald D. Moore has admitted that there will be some changes to the structure of the story, and–let’s face it–seeing things on screen are always different than reading them on the page.

So let’s go over all we’ve learned about Season 3 from the makers of Outlander.

The storyline

According to Starz, Outlander Season 3 will pick up right where Season 2 ended, with Claire traveling through the stones to return to her life in 1948. She is pregnant with Jamie’s child, and her sudden reappearance shocks her first husband, Frank (Tobias Menzies).

As for Jamie, he is suffering from the aftermath of the doomed battle of Culloden back in the 18th century. He is also reeling from the loss of Claire. Over the ensuing years, both Jamie and Claire attempt to move on and make a life without each other. But when Claire learns she may be able to return to Jamie, it changes the course of their lives again.

Opening sequence is different than Voyager

As noted above, there are always a few changes when a book is adapted into a television series. One change to Outlander Season 3 will be the opening sequence, which will show Jamie’s showdown with arch-enemy Jonathan Black Jack Randall–who raped Jamie in Season 1–at the Battle of Culloden.

Moore explained the move to Entertainment Weekly.

“It just felt like for the TV show, we’ve been promising this for a while and it just felt like we should have something. We should give the audience some sense of what happened on that moor.”

Claire will try to make a go of it with Frank

Claire had a good relationship with Frank before meeting Jamie in the 18th century. But her surprise reappearance in the 20th century–carrying Jamie’s child, no less–will fray their marriage.

“We start the season, I think everyone’s seen from the trailer so it’s not a spoiler, that Claire goes back to Frank,” Balfe told E! News.

“And it’s very tough for her, because this is a man who really didn’t do anything wrong. You know, he was her first love, he was a good husband to her, but because of circumstances, she fell in love with someone else in a much deeper and much truer way than she ever did with Frank.”

The long-awaited Print Shop scene

It’s no secret that Jamie and Claire reunite at some point in Outlander Season 3, but some fans were worried that Moore might significantly change the time-crossed pair’s romantic reunion from what’s depicted in the book.

But worry not. As Inquisitr previously reported, all signs seem to point to a satisfying reunion that’s faithful to the book. For one thing, as producer Matthew B. Roberts confirmed on Twitter, Jamie and Claire do indeed reunite in a print shop, just like in the book.

So close I think I actually have ink on my hands. #prepping #Outlander #anyoneknowwhereicanfindcarfaxclose :-{)> pic.twitter.com/nL5rugpcOL

— Matthew B Roberts (@TheMattBRoberts) November 23, 2016

And Caitriona Balfe had high praise for the reunion when she spoke to Vanity Fair.

“I think it’s really special. Maybe they’ll have to wait a little bit, but I don’t think it’s going to be as scarce as last season, shall we say?”

Outlander Season 3 will be steamier than Season 2

After a white-hot Season 1, fans were a bit disappointed with the lack of sex scenes in Outlander Season 2. Balfe addressed the issue when speaking to Vanity Fair.

“I definitely heard that they missed a lot of the intimacy between Jamie and Claire, which I think we were sort of expecting,” the actress said. “I think even Sam and I sort of missed — especially in the beginning because it was so heavy on the politics — I think we were all missing those more intimate moments. They have so many of their iconic fan moments that they really are looking forward to, so you definitely always hear whenever some of those are not there. I’m trying to think of specifics for you, but the one that I just kept hearing, from what I saw on my Twitter: ‘Where’s the sex?'”

But Balfe promised things will be different in Season 3.

“There will be some other sex going on.”

And in an interview with Vulture, she said fans shouldn’t think the sex will be less hot because Jamie and Claire have aged 20 years.

“In terms of the sex, I think old people have good sex too, last I heard!”

Caribbean locations

While the first two seasons of Outlander have been largely land-locked in Scotland and France, Season 3 is going to take to the high seas. After Jamie and Claire reunite, they will embark on a sea voyage that takes them to Jamaica and beyond. The scenes will be shot in South Africa, and Balfe and co-star Sam Heughan made a cute video announcing their departure from Scotland for fans.

https://youtu.be/lHXyETqvc1Q

What do you think about Outlander Season 3? Let us know in the comments below.

Outlander Season 3 returns to Starz in September.

[Featured Image via Starz]