Jamie and Claire can survive almost anything. But with a newspaper clipping from the future announcing their death in a house fire on Outlander, there's some question about if they can survive that. Readers of Diana Gabaldon's books know how this story unfolds. But with an abbreviated Season 6, even book fans can't predict what's going to happen with Jamie and Claire in the fire. Especially since the people behind the show are implying that the Outlander fire won't happen in Season 6.
Back in Season 4, Brianna traveled back in time to warn her parents that they're apparently going to die in a house fire that will take place sometime in the 1770s. As the show gets closer to the American Revolution and the latter half of that decade — plus the fact that the Frasers aren't very popular on the Ridge this season — it seems like the Big House could go up in flames at any point. (Not to mention this season is based on the book called A Breath of Snow and Ashes... emphasis on "ashes.")
But when TV Guide asked Outlander showrunner Matthew B. Roberts and executive producer Maril Davis about the fire that's allegedly going to kill Claire and Jamie, the creative team made it seem like the fire won't come until Season 7. "Because of the pandemic and scheduling issues going forward and having to truncate Season 6, you may not get to see a fire," Roberts said. "There will be fires! There just [may] not be the fire that you're thinking about."
Davis added, "The 'Fire is coming,' is kind of going to be like, 'Winter is coming,'" — referencing the ongoing tagline of Game of Thrones. To which Roberts responded, "The fire will come, I promise."
Book spoilers ahead.
At the end of the sixth book, Claire's invention of ether and Brianna's invention of matches make for a fiery combination that destroys the Big House when time traveler Wendigo Donner comes to the house to steal gemstones. Just like it was a great way to end a book, it seems like a great place to end a season. But with only eight episodes, it really doesn't seem like the season is going to get to this Book 6 plot. "Since we cut this season short, we're actually going to continue some of that material in Season 7," Davis told Den of Geek. In another interview with Entertainment Weekly, she confirmed, "We left part of A Breath of Snow and Ashes still untold."
Now, there's always the chance that Roberts and Davis are misleading fans so that the house fire will be unexpected when it occurs in Season 6. But Gabaldon previously revealed to SheKnows that she had written episode 609 before the season was shortened, implying there will be Book 6 storylines carried over into Season 7.
So if Season 6 won't end in smoke, how will it end? In an interview with The GATE, Sam Heughan offered this tidbit, "At the end of this season, there's a great climax, a great cliffhanger" (h/t thepacksvrvives on Reddit). In Davis's EW interview, she also emphasized a cliffhanger ending. "This season, because it's shortened — where we were going to end it was no less fraught necessarily — but for some reason, it seems more traumatic," she said. "I love the end of the season. It is a cliffhanger and it makes you really want to come back for Season 7."
If the cliffhanger is not Jamie and Claire seeing their house on fire and deciding to go back to Scotland, could it be Jamie and Claire being separated on the road to prison?
In the opening credits, there is a shot that looks like it's Claire in prison. But there's also a shot of riders on a beach that I suspect might be Jamie going to rescue Claire. It seems odd the season wouldn't show the action of Jamie going to save Claire (even if that's not exactly how it goes down in the books). But a "great cliffhanger" would certainly be Jamie and Claire separated, even if it will cause agony for viewers. So prepare for a traumatic season starting March 6 that has (what else?) a traumatic ending.
Images: Starz