Outlander author makes major claim about the final season's ending

Outlander author Diana Gabaldon has warned fans not to expect an ending reminiscent of her novels when the TV series draws to a close with its eighth and final season next year.

Viewers will bid Sam Heguhan's Jamie Fraser and Caitríona Balfe's Claire Fraser a fond farewell as the hit show reaches its climax in 2025 and Diana has admitted that the final run of episodes may not match the storyline in her novels.

Outlander is currently airing part two of its penultimate season and there will be a prequel to look forward to in Blood of My Blood.

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But for now while answering questions from fans on her Facebook page Diana explained how she intends to wrap things up. She said: "There's only so much I can say about the show, but what I can say is that it really won't resemble the end of the book series.

"Coming into Season 8, the show-runners have/had only ten episodes (rather than the sixteen, say, in Season One)--and material from THREE WHOLE BOOKS to fit into that. Season 7 ends (roughly) with AN ECHO IN THE BONE, leaving WRITTEN IN MY OWN HEART'S BLOOD, GO TELL THE BEES THAT I AM GONE, and BOOK TEN almost untouched."

She elaborated further as she continued: "Now, in normal circumstances – one book per season – they can fit roughly 10% of the book's content into the show. How much of the (VERY roughly speaking) 1,200,000 words of those three books do you think they can get into ten hours of television?

"Obviously, they're going to have to cherry-pick some prime scenes/threads to film, and try to fit them into a framework that makes sense for one season, and that they can bring to a reasonably satisfactory conclusion."

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Diana also explained how when she is "unhampered by space considerations" she has a far greater ability to expand the story, meaning subsequently the tenth novel "will contain a LOT of stuff that the show simply can't."

She added: "I hope y'all will enjoy them both!" Diana is still working on the as-yet-untitled 10th novel, which is the follow-up to 2021's Go Tell the Bees That I Am Gone continuing the story that began way back in 1991.

In a separate post on Facebook she detailed how the Outlander creative team had "a synopsis and pieces for dialogue"to help create the final season from, but that "there's just not room to do anything like a replica of any of the books."

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