Is There An Outlander Season 8 Based On Which Diana Gabaldon Book?

I have some great news for all you Outlander fans out there! Season 8 of the Starz series is being written to adapt the 8th book in the Outlander series by author Diana Gabaldon, ‘Written in My Own Heart’s Blood’. I have been a huge follower of the book-to-screen adaptation of Outlander for many years now, and I have to say that ‘Written in My Own Heart’s Blood’ will make for a fantastic final season of the TV series as it continues to follow the lives of Jamie, Claire, Brianna, Roger, Lord John, Ian, and the many other characters that are sprinkled throughout the story as they journey through time and continue to face many challenges across the many continents that they travel to.

As someone who follows the TV series rather than the books, it seems to me that the Show has generally followed the one-season-per-book policy of the books. Sometimes that has meant that they have condensed certain scenes or even reversed their order in order to fit everything in. Written in My Own Heart’s Blood is a large and extremely character driven book that is told in a large number of different perspectives. Therefore it will almost certainly require some cutting of subplots in order to make the episode work, and I’m very curious to see which scenes they will choose to leave in full and which they will choose to trim or rework in some way.

A secondary thought, but an interesting one nonetheless, is how the show will handle the various storylines from the book in terms of tone. “Written in My Own Heart’s Blood” is a character driven novel that spans many years of the lives of our favorite Clan DuMond/Fraser/Floyd characters in both domestic, interior scenes as well as Revolutionary-era scenes of danger and adventure. It’s a bit of a Bittersweet novel in terms of its exploration of issues in life that can’t be easily reconciled. The tone in terms of some of these moral ambivalences, etc. is a difficult thing to translate to screen, but I think the Outlander cast and crew will do a fabulous job, as they have in the past. I’ll be very interested to see how they integrate all the many subplots from the novel in terms of emotion, and how they’ll manage to juggle some of the very intense, and at times, graphic scenes of combat and violence with the more intimate, tender scenes between the main characters as they’re dealing with issues of loyalty, and loss, and struggle to find ways to move forward from all of it. All in all, I’m a bit nervous about how this will all come together, but I have every confidence that the show will do it justice. And in the meantime, I’ll be re-reading the book, and stocking up on snacks and other comforts for what will undoubtedly be a night of prime-time TV nostalgia.

I only have time for a really brief, personal response: Season 8 of Outlander is the adaptation of Diana Gabaldon’s Written in My Own Heart’s Blood, the 8th book in the series. The reason I say this is because I have watched every season of Outlander to date and been slowly reading the corresponding novels. The only logical step is for them to now adapt the final major installment of the story of Claire and Jamie for television.

I also anticipate that they will choose to highlight the most cinematic parts of the book and preserve the big reversals and many family conflicts, as well as embedding quotes for fans to reminisce long after the show ends. I shall watch with bated breath as they attempt to bring this massive novel to life on screen within the framework of the show, and hope that they are able to keep all the important heartbeats intact whilst they provide a satisfying, layered, textured finale for these much loved characters who have grown up on screen for us to enjoy.

I think that Jemmy and Mandy’s time-traveling could be huge in creating an awesome season finale for Outlander. I know that the books have set up many high-stakes sci-fi scenes with the two of them and their unique abilities. Maybe season 8 will finally give screen time to this plot line and create an entirely new kind of conflict for the seasons leading up to the show’s end. Instead of just another historical battle, the final season could create a really unique and memorable series finale that ties together all of the generations of the story and explores the mystery of the stones. It would be awesome to see them go out with that kind of bold creative choice.