Sumith Prasad
The seventh season of Starz’s historical series ‘Outlander’ begins with Claire Fraser and James “Jamie” MacKenzie Fraser’s reunion after the former becomes a free woman. Indebted to Tom Christie for confessing to Malva’s murder to free her, Claire returns to Fraser’s Ridge in the second episode of the season. She welcomes her granddaughter Amanda “Mandy” MacKenzie as Brianna “Bree” Fraser MacKenzie gives birth to a girl.
Claire and Jamie also get forced to see Bree, Roger, Jem, and Amanda leave for the 20th century for the latter to undergo surgery since she suffers from a heart condition that threatens her life. While the couple deals with the sadness of Bree and her family’s departure, a person from the past returns to their lives and threatens the same. SPOILERS AHEAD.
Jamie and Claire’s Survival
One day after Bree and her family’s departure to the 20th century, Claire gets confronted by Wendigo Donner at her house. Donner is at Fraser’s Ridge with a group of men to procure enough gemstones to go back to the future. His men also hold Jamie captive. After explaining what he wants, Donner and his men search for gemstones in the house, only to break down bottles of ether Claire has stored in her makeshift clinic. Due to the darkness at the place, Donner lights a match, only for the ether to catch fire, which paves the way for an explosion. Jamie and Claire’s house starts to burn down while the couple is inside.
Although the fire threatens Jamie and Claire’s lives, the couple is expected to survive the same. In Diana Gabaldon’s ‘Outlander’ novels, which serve as the source texts of the series, they don’t die due to the fire since Jamie rescues himself and Claire from the same. “Jamie seized my arm and hurled me toward the door; I staggered out, fell into the blackberry bushes, and rolled through them, thrashing and flailing at my smoking skirts,” states ‘A Breath of Snow and Ashes,’ the sixth novel in Gabaldon’s book series.
Since the show is expected to not drastically deviate from the events of the novel series, we most likely will see Jamie and Claire’s escape at the start of the third episode of season 7. Does that mean we haven’t seen the last of Sam Heughan and Caitríona Balfe in the series? Let’s find out.
Sam Heughan and Caitríona Balfe Are Not Leaving Outlander
Sam Heughan and Caitríona Balfe are not leaving ‘Outlander.’ Since Jamie and Claire are expected to survive the fire at their house and remain alive, we may not need to worry about Heughan and Balfe’s exit. In addition, Balfe revealed that the seventh season of the show primarily revolves around the impact of the Revolutionary War on the lives of Jamie and Claire, which is yet to properly happen in the current installment. “The Revolutionary War has started. Our characters, Claire and Jamie, are caught up right in the middle of it, and I think this season is the most action, jam-packed, and sort of epic that we’ve done since season 1,” Balfe told EW.
From Balfe’s words, it is clear that a lot is left to happen in Jamie and Claire’s lives in the series, which makes it evident that Heughan and Balfe will remain committed to the series. In fact, the lead performers had already made it clear that they are a part of the production of the already-announced eighth season of the show. As far as Heughan is concerned, the actor doesn’t “intend” to walk away from the series until the saga of Jamie and Claire is concluded in the show. “I also can’t wait to tell the end of the story. I wanted to finish it; I didn’t want to just walk away,” the actor said about being a part of season 8 while being a part of the podcast ‘Happy Sad Confused.’
Heughan is “emotional” about putting an end to his ‘Outlander’ journey with the eighth and final season. “The end of this, Season 7, suddenly you could feel it on set. Everyone was starting to go, ‘Oh, actually, we’re going to come back and do this one more time and that’s it.’ Everyone was getting pretty emotional about it. I think it’s going to be a huge change in our lives and also really sad to say goodbye to this amazing journey,” he added. Considering these factors, we believe that Heughan and Balfe will continue to feature in ‘Outlander.’
Read More: Is Allan Christie Dead? Did Alexander Vlahos Leave Outlander?
