Spoilers ahead for Episode 11 of Outlander's seventh season, which aired on December 6.
The long-awaited second half of Outlander Season 7 in the 2024 TV schedule keeps delivering huge twist after huge twist, ranging from the death of the elder Ian Murray to William saving Rachel and Ian from Arch Bug. That said, I'm not sure if the Starz hit has ever been more chaotic than the Episode 11 ending. Jamie returned from the dead, Claire and Lord John were newlyweds, William found out who his real biological father is, and Jamie took Lord John hostage when the house was stormed by redcoats. Caitriona Balfe and Sam Heughan spoke with CinemaBlend about it and the upcoming repercussions!
Admittedly, a lot of Episode 11 – called "A Hundredweight of Stones" – was a somber affair, since the characters weren't as lucky as viewers to have a pretty good idea that Jamie was 100% alive. Claire and Lord John sleeping together was certainly a curveball, but nothing compared to the final three minutes. (Yes, I timed it when I streamed to rewatch via my Hulu subscription with Starz.) When I spoke with the Outlander stars during Starz's Season 7B press junket, I had to ask about the wild sequence with all the moving pieces, and Sam Heughan shared:
There's a lot of drama there, obviously. Jamie arriving and being chased by the redcoats and finding out new information and William being there, it is, as you said, chaotic. And I think the repercussions of that and the way it's played out is going to have consequences throughout the whole season and perhaps into Season 8 as well. This huge rift will be created between Jamie and Claire and John Grey, of course. There's a lot for these characters to really overcome, and I think it's probably the biggest test of Jamie and Claire's relationship in a long time.
A "huge rift" – as Sam Heughan put it – seems inevitable, given that Jamie has come back to find out that Claire quickly married Lord John after word of his demise made it back to Philadelphia, with Claire once again stuck in a situation of accidentally having two husbands still alive... but without an Outlander time travel twist this time like her situation with Frank and Jamie (and possibly Jamie's ghost).
So perhaps it's no wonder that Caitriona Balfe described Claire's situation with Lord John as "very shocking," prompting Sam Heughan to joke that "she does know how to pick them" and Balfe to laugh that "she just likes to collect rings and husbands." More serious, the actress went on to share her reaction to Claire's latest marriage:
It was very shocking. I think even when we got the first scripts, it was quite a shock, and I think it's kind of cool this deep into a show that sometimes you get thrown a curveball like that, and it's not something you're going to expect. As an actor, you have to wrap your head around it and figure out how we're going to do this. And it was amazing to work with David Berry on those scenes. He's amazing. And we also had [intimacy coordinator] Vanessa Coffey, who was incredibly helpful during that time, too.
The Outlander team kept intimacy coordinator Vanessa Coffey on board after Sam Heughan brought her in for Season 6, and the sex scene between Claire and John – in which they both knew the other was imagining Jamie in their place – was filmed differently than most of the other intimate sequences on the show. Which is probably for the best, considering the circumstances for both characters, deep in mourning!
Caitriona Balfe went on, acknowledging that fans pretty much knew that Jamie wasn't really dead, which was a safe bet based on the trailer that came with the premiere date and the stars sharing messages when they wrapped on Season 8. She said:
It's hard because for Claire, this is the most devastating news she's ever gotten, and to try and go through that grieving process when you sort of know that the audience all know that Jamie Fraser is not really gone, it sort of feels like you're doing a lot of heavy work to try and ground that and make it believable. But you know, I think it's a really dramatic and challenging episode.
Based on the fact that Season 7B is only partway finished and how Heughan teased the rift on the way, I'd say that there's plenty more drama and challenges on the way, even if not every episode ends as chaotically as "A Hundredweight of Stones." For a taste of what's up next. check out the promo for Episode 12 with Jamie openly among the living:
Don't miss the next episode of Outlander, airing on Friday, December 13 at 8 p.m. ET on Starz. All in all, for as much as fans have been rooting for Claire and Jamie for seven seasons now, part of me can't help but feel bad for Lord John being pulled into their chaos whenever their paths cross. It sure is entertaining to watch, though!
In addition to new episodes weekly on Starz, you can also check out previous episodes streaming with a Netflix subscription now.
