Exclusive: “I’ve done that as well,” I tell Outlander’s Sam Heughan and Caitriona Balfe as we discuss the online trend of the series’ fans placing their hands on standing stones in an effort to travel through time, like Balfe’s character Claire Fraser.
“Did it work?” Heughan, 46, shoots back, adding to Balfe, also 46: “Well, we’re here now, I suppose, so yeah!”
“I’m in a Zoom [with you guys], so there might be something to it,” I joke.
Watch the video above.
The pair are bracing for the hit show’s final episode, the season eight finale, to hit screens – and it’s been a long time coming.
Outlander, based on author Diana Gabaldon’s book series, began filming in Scotland in 2013 and filming wrapped back in 2024. It’s been more than a decade of their lives, a total of ’12 years’ and an incredible 101 episodes.
The stars agree it feels “surreal” the show’s ending is well and truly here.
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“It probably is the longest goodbye, but it’s finally here and it’s mixed emotions, all those great memories we’ve had,” Scottish actor Heughan tells nine.com.au.
“I’m excited for people to see it.”
Balfe is glad Outlander fans will finally have access to the show in its entirety.
“They have stuck with us through thick and thin, and so many ‘droughtlanders’,” she says, referencing the fandom’s nickname for the waiting periods, or ‘droughts’, between seasons.
“You just want them to have the 101 episodes in their entirety, to be able to enjoy them in whatever way they want,” she says.
When it comes to farewelling their iconic characters, highland warrior Jamie Fraser and surgeon Claire Fraser, Heughan admits he was ready.
“I think we both had our own ways of saying goodbye, but I think we had to say goodbye. It was hard,” he says.
“Even just the schedule or the routine of going to work every day and seeing the same people, it’s like a divorce … suddenly you’re in a completely different place and you’re not seeing the people that you care about and have spent the last 12 years with.
“I think, yes, I’m ready. Not that I don’t love Jamie, or I don’t love the job, but everything changes.
“I think it’s good to move on, and we gave some great years to the show and I’m very, very proud of it.”
Balfe says she went to a retreat as she bade farewell to the role that changed her life.
“I went away and I did a retreat last year, and I think I was able to sort of let go and release Claire in that way,” the Irish actress says.
“I guess, in that kind of very personal way when you were playing a character … she’ll always be a part of my life, and she’ll always be a part of my story.
“We have lives and we’ve moved on in other aspects. It’s been a privilege … you get to take the good with you.”
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So how has their friendship and bond changed now they’re no longer on set after all these years?
“It’s probably better now, in a way,” Balfe says.
“Something that’s come out of the show is I’ve got an amazing friend in Caitriona,” Heughan adds.
“Now that the show’s gone, it gives us more space [to bond outside of the show].”
“When you know you’re going to see somebody every day, you’re not making effort, and I think now it’s so nice when we get to come together and hang out,” Balfe adds.
“I think our friendship has grown in this way. It’s very dear and special to me.”
“The gift that Outlander gave us,” Heughan adds.
In the final season, Balfe particularly likes the storyline of beloved characters Ian Fraser Murray and Rachel.
“That was really beautiful. It was really lovely to see someone like [actor] John Bell, who started as such a kid on our show, and he’s grown up and he’s such a fine actor,” she says.
Heughan and Balfe promised some of their favourite and most romantic love lines will be aired in the finale, and shared a final message to Outlander fans: Thank you.
“What an amazing fandom … they are the most passionate, they are the most involved, and we love them and we’re so grateful,” Balfe says.
“We want to thank them for all the years of support. Now you can go back and binge it all from the beginning,” Heughan finishes with a chuckle.
The final episode to the epic historical time-jumping love story of Jamie and Claire Fraser premieres May 16 on BINGE. The final season of Outlander is streaming now on BINGE.
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