God's blood! The long-rumored potential Outlander spinoff has gotten a promising bump. In a Twitter exchange, actor Sam Hoare said he'd be interested — well, in his words, "keen" — to return as Hal Grey in a Lord John Grey spinoff. Although the Lord John Grey spinoff series isn't official, knowing Hoare would want to don Lord Melton's tricorn again has me tipping my hat in gratitude.

Here's how it went down:

• Outlander fan @Twin1222 on Twitter wondered why there hadn't been any updates about the Lord John Grey spinoff from Starz. Since Hal's a major character in the Lord John Grey novels and novellas from Diana Gabaldon (he is LJG's brother after all), she tagged Hoare in the conversation.
• Courtney Williams of OutlanderBTS then stepped in to mention that, while she has no "insider info," she's optimistic that Starz will go through with the project.
• From there, Hoare entered the chat with these 11 juicy words:

"I'm keen. It's been too long since I've worn a tricorne!"

He further demonstrated his interest when Williams replied that Hal gets to dine at The Society for the Appreciation of the English Beefsteak (a gentleman's club in London of which Hal and John are members). He wrote back, "Beefsteak AND tricorne" with the crossed fingers emoji. I believe that's British for "super stoked."

Hal Grey only appeared in two episodes of Outlander — Season 3's "The Battle Joined" and "Of Lost Things." While he saved Jamie's life after Culloden, he then blew up Red Jamie's spot after his baby bro got the Jacobite scum a cushy job as the groom of Helwater. You could argue if not for Hal, William would never have existed. But like his book counterpart, he wasn't involved in the story for Seasons 4, 5, and upcoming 6.

Williams had interviewed Hoare for OutlanderBTS back in 2018 where he discussed his openness to return to the Outlander universe. He said "fingers crossed" when Williams mentioned the possibility of Hal being featured again. He mentioned that he started researching the role after he was cast and was intrigued to learn that there was a lot more content out there about the Duke of Pardloe. "That was exciting because I went from thinking, 'Oh I've got this tiny little, quite small little thing in two parts,' which still was great. To thinking, 'Oh, wait a second, this character is potentially part of the fabric in a bigger way,'" he said.