Premiering August 8 on Starz, Outlander: Blood of My Blood retains much of the original show’s original team, including executive producers Davis and
Premiering August 8 on Starz, Outlander: Blood of My Blood retains much of the original show’s original team, including executive producers Davis and Ronald D. Moore, and showrunner Matthew B. Roberts. Diana Gabaldon, author of the books that spawned the initial show, is also involved as a writer.
But the novel series isn’t inspired by any novels—which Davis sees as an opportunity. “With prequels, the challenge is you know exactly where you’re ending. But we have a lot of freedom in figuring out how to get there,” she says. “We don’t have a book series on this one, so we’re definitely not going to have that debate necessarily of, ‘Oh, this was in the book this way, but the show’s doing it a different way.’ But sometimes it’s nice to have the blueprint.”
Another hurdle: The original Outlander isn’t over yet. The sweeping period romance has run for seven seasons, with an eighth and final chapter still to come. Viewers don’t need to be totally caught up with its parent series to appreciate Blood of My Blood, but Easter eggs abound for those who are in the loop.
See, for instance, the character of Murtagh Fitzgibbons Fraser, played on the original series by Duncan LaCroix. Here, he’s Brian’s best friend, who once harbored an unrequited crush on Ellen. On Blood of My Blood, he’s jolly and upbeat—a massive change for those who know that he’ll descend into darkness by the time Outlander unfolds. “Murtagh became the way he was because something happened to make him closed down, very cynical,” says Davis. “That was why it was so exciting when we cast Rory [Alexander], because he has such a twinkle in his eye. Like, ‘Oh, it’s fresh-faced Murtagh.’ It’s not-had-his-heart-broken, full-of-optimism Murtagh. And we get the ‘fun,’ in quotes, of seeing how he got that way.”
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