It's Droughtlander season! Outlander fans are in the interminably long period between the last and the next season of the time-traveling historical drama. The current gap we find ourselves in now has been particularly brutal, what with Claire Fraser’s traumatic scenes in the finale on top of the cliffhangers. But it might ease fans’ pain just a little to know that even thirst trap king Sam Heughan has trouble (for a time, anyway) of shedding his iconic Jamie Fraser role when the cameras inevitably stop rolling.
Sam Heughan has explained that the difficulty of letting go of his Jamie Fraser part continued on after production wrapped for Season 6 of Outlander earlier this year. He told the Just The Facts with Alex Zane podcast:
It really is a transitional moment and it’s very hard to switch off. For the first few days after shooting and completing a season of Outlander, you’re still on this hamster wheel of getting things done and everything. I came to London as I had a bunch of meetings and various things going on, suddenly it just dawned on me that I’m done.
I guess it's not as easy as putting one's hands on some magical stones to be transported to your correct time and place! Sam Heughan has played the Scottish Highlander Jamie Fraser for seven years now on Outlander, and he still has trouble coming back into the 21st century. As for his romantic on-screen partner and the Claire to his Jamie, actress Caitriona Balfe has been a bit consumed of late herself. (Just not in the role you might have come to know her for.) She recently announced the birth of her first child.
Lots of new characters are slated for the Outlander Season 6 scene. One supposedly even develops a romantic interest in Claire that Jamie Fraser will likely be none too happy about. Furthermore, Sam Heughan at one point said Season 6 was “short but mighty,” which apparently meant mightily difficult. He said on Alex Zane’s podcast,
It’s the shortest season we’ve done, it’s only eight episodes but it’s potentially one of the hardest because we were shooting during a pandemic and there were a lot of factors involved that made it pretty difficult to shoot.
The sixth season is expected to hit Starz sometime in 2022, so the Outlander drought is going to come to an end. Sam Heughan faces his own challenges of not being able to hang up the Jamie Fraser tartan so quick ly. He will be taking up the role again, however, since Outlander has already been renewed for Season 7 and there's still plenty more source material to be adapted. Fortunately, there are many viewing options during the wait for more Outlander.
