The upcoming season of Outlander will mark the beginning of a new era for the fan-favourite Starz show with the announcement that a new prequel series is in the works. Get ready for a new realm of time-travel romance; as Variety reports, the yet to be titled series is in development and assembling a writer’s room.
Matthew B. Roberts will lead the writer’s room, serving as both writer and executive producer of the prequel. Ronald D. Moore, who originally developed the show, will return as an executive producer with Maril Davis on behalf of Tall Ship Productions with Sony Pictures Television.
Recently Diana Gabaldon, author of the Outlander book series, revealed in a Facebook post that she’s working on a prequel novel series concurrently to this now-announced new show. It remains to be seen if the new books, which centre on Jamie Fraser’s parents, will serve as the basis of the upcoming series.
Maril Davis told Den of Geek that the show’s relationship with the original material has been evolving to suit the needs of their show. For instance, the density of the A Breath of Snow and Ashes book, which season six is based on, has necessitated some format changes: “We’re actually going to continue some of that material in season seven. So when it first seemed daunting, actually, it completely worked out in the end. In Diana’s books, so many things happen and they’re so spread out … Things happen so much closer to each other, so I think that’s always a challenge.”
Trying a Game of Thrones-style approach may be risky, considering how George RR Martin ended up feeling about the end result. But as for the prequel, Outlander is one of Starz’s biggest hits and launching a universe around it makes sense. Fans will have to wait to find out if whatever is coming up next will tie into the books, or will pave a new path through time of its own.
The upcoming season of Outlander will premiere March 6.
Editor’s Note: Release dates within this article are based in the U.S., but will be updated with local Australian dates as soon as we know more.