Author: Outlander set for third series
Delight for viewers of Jacobite epic which has boosted Scots economy
THE author behind the Outlander phenomenon has said she expects any new series to be filmed in Scotland, offering another multimillion-pound boost to the economy.
Two series of the TV show have been made in studios in Cumbernauld and author Diana Gabaldon said: “Working on the assumption there will be a third series, they will be able to shoot quite a bit in Scotland.”
THEY are the multi million-selling, time-travel novels which have inspired a major drama series shot in Scotland.
Both series of Outlander have been filmed in studios in Cumbernauld – helping add £20 million to the Scottish economy – with the second series opening on the Amazon Prime streaming service on April 10.
Now the author behind the phenomenon says it is likely to return to Scotland for a third season.
Makers Sony and US cable channel Starz have not yet officially committed to a third series or said whether it will be shot in Scotland, if filming does indeed go ahead.
But Diana Gabaldon, the American author of the era-hopping adventure romance novels set in 18th century Scotland, who is also a consultant to the TV series, has said thoughts are already turning to how the third book could be filmed.
A third season of the show would be based on the novel Voyager, which is set in Scotland, notably the Highlands and Edinburgh, as well as on board ships and in Jamaica.
Another season could continue the economic boost to the Scottish film industry and tourism.
It could also lead to an extension of the studios in which it is filmed, in Cumbernauld, North Lanarkshire.
The author, currently writing the ninth and, she says, penultimate book of the series, would not be drawn on whether there would be a third series in Scotland.
However she did say: “Working on the assumption there will be a third series, they will be able to shoot quite a bit in Scotland.
“They are trying to expand the [Wardpark] studios in Cumbernauld to six stages, trying to make it a major film studio, and so far all of the interiors have been shot there.
“You would need to do some other things. It is a very active story, you would need to shoot some of the show on a ship.”
Ms Gabaldon suggested that Starz may be able to borrow the ships which another one of their series, Black Sails, uses for its pirate-themed adventures.
She also said Jamaica’s beaches could be replicated by the “white sands” of the Highlands and Islands.
Ms Gabaldon, speaking from her home in Arizona, said she is thrilled by the quality of the second series of Outlander, which once again stars Sam Heughan as Highland warrior Jamie Fraser and Caitriona Balfe as Claire Randall, a 1940s nurse who is thrown back to an earlier time after stepping into a stone circle.
“As a consultant on the show I have seen it being made, I have seen the edit, and really, it has been really well done,” she said.
“It is a moving story and it attends very closely to the chronology of the book.”
Ms Gabaldon said she thinks the Outlander series will finish with 10 books.
“I think it will be 10,” she said, “but I don’t plan it out, although I have a rough notion – I think there will probably be a book 10.
“Then I am planning on a sequel, which will be about Jamie Fraser’s parents and the rising of the [17]15.”
The prequel will tell the story, she said, of Fraser’s parents Brian and Ellen, as well as his maternal uncle, Dougal MacKenzie and his godfather, Murtagh.
It will take place during the Jacobite rising of 1715, when James Francis Edward Stuart, known as the Old Pretender, attempted to seize the throne of the UK.
Previous shoots have taken place at Doune Castle, Stirling; mills in East Linton, East Lothian and Newtonmore in the Highlands.