TV

Outlander renewed for Seasons 5 and 6, ahead of Season 4 premiere

You get to see a whole lot more of Sam Heughan!
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Outlander fans rejoice – the show has been renewed for two more seasons!

Seasons five and six are expected to premiere in 2019 and 2020. Currently, filming on season four of Outlander is under way in Scotland.

The popular series follows time travelling couple Claire (Caitriona Balfe) and Jamie Fraser (Sam Heughan) and is based on the series of books by Diana Gabaldon.

The additional series will be based on Diana’s novels The Fiery Cross and A Breath of Snow and Ashes. There are a total of eight novels in the series.

Caitriona and Sam in Outlander Season one.

The series is produced by US pay-TV network Starz, and airs on Foxtel’s Showcase channel in Australia.

Starz CEO Chris Albrecht says: “Fans can rest assured their beloved Claire and Jamie will be back facing new challenges, adversaries and adventures in seasons five and six as we delve into American history and continue the story of the Frasers as they settle in the New World.”

“I think our biggest problem will be making sure that we don’t kill Caitriona and Sam along the way, they are working so hard, especially Caitriona, she’s amazing,” Chris says.

“The two of them are fantastic and so deserving of the accolades that they’ve gotten.”

Chris describes Outlander as like “nothing seen before on television.”

“The show’s going amazingly,” he says.

Caitriona stars as Claire in Season three of Outlander.

The finale of the third season saw Jamie and Claire washed up ashore in what is now the state of Georgia. In the season, the stars were seen to have aged somewhat to suit the time-jump.

Of her subtle ‘older’ look, Catriona tells TV WEEK: “We thought prosthetics would be too distracting. Claire is only 50. So we looked around at many female crew members who are around that age. They all look pretty good, so we took our direction from them.”

She continues: “You see a little grey in Claire’s hair. But most of the challenge, for me, was internal – showing how life experience changed her, and living with that loss.”

Meanwhile, Sam seems amused by his middle age makeover.

“It was fun to play with hair and make-up and a few prosthetics,” he tells TV WEEK. “And discovering what Jamie looks like at different stages in his life.”

The actor reveals eye make-up, false eyebrows and altering the colour of his lips were some of the tricks used.

“I also had this crazy wig at one point that was extremely uncomfortable,” Sam says. “But it put me in a really bad mood, which was perfect for the character too!”

Season four of Outlander will air on Foxtel in November.

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