Droughtlander is over folks, which means there are some minor spoilers coming your way based on quotes from show creator Ronald D. Moore.
It’s fitting that Outlander is coming back for Season 5 on Valentine’s Day weekend. In fact, it’s so fitting I’m a little shocked that Starz didn’t think to do this with any previous seasons. Tonight’s big episode is going to be all about love as well, and ahead of the big premiere show creator Ronald D. Moore talked a lot about what he feels is the big “highlight” moment of the Season 5 premiere.
In the first episode of the new season, the series will flash back to the original wedding ceremony between Caitriona Balfe’s Claire and Sam Heughan’s Jamie. That will be juxtaposed against the present in the series, in which Richard Rankin’s Roger and Sophie Skelton’s Bri are finally getting married! Of the portion of the episode, Ronald D. Moore said:
We felt like this was an opportunity to just, before all the nightmares happen and before all the usual Outlander drama takes place, let’s just have a moment where we just celebrate the idea of love. And just show all the different character’s in love. I think that’s one of the highlights of episodes tonight’s episode.
Speaking at an event ahead of the official Outlander Season 5 premiere (via Variety), Ronald D. Moore also mentioned that “revolution, heartbreak and tragedy” will be key to Season 5, so I guess it’s nice to hear that the show will be giving us a bit of a reprieve before getting into the tough stuff.
Time is often played with on Outlander, so bringing the past and present together for a lovely scene all about love and family should also simply be a great way to kick off Season 5. Instead of simply doing a similar scene to Claire and Jamie’s wedding, the show wanted to do something different and it sounds like they accomplished the goal.
We didn’t want to go near replicating what Claire [Caitriona Balfe] and Jamie’s [Sam Heughan] wedding was. We just wanted tofeel something different, you’ll see tonight that it leads to this really nice interlude and this musical section where there’s a song that takes you through all the different couples that are in love.
Previously, we knew that Season 5 of Outlander would feature a big wedding sequence for Brianna and Roger. Sophie Skelton spoke out about filming the notable scene earlier this year, noting they were spared the mud in Season 5 but that it was really cold while they were filming.
We already know the clan is settling into Fraser’s Ridge and dealing with having to choose sides for the impending American Revolutionary War thanks to a lot of footage released by Starz during the long and cold droughtlander, but we’ll have to wait and see exactly how the story unfolds and how it may differ from Diana Gabaldon’s book series when Outlander makes its return.
New episodes of Outlander air on Sunday nights at 8 p.m. ET, only on Starz. To see what other winter shows have yet to premiere, check out our full schedule.
