It's World Outlander Day and to celebrate, the cast of Outlander honored the fans. In a video from the Outlander Season 6 set for World Outlander Day, Caitriona Balfe, Sam Heughan, Richard Rankin, and Sophie Skelton were joined by John Bell, Paul Gorman, and Caitlin O'Ryan, as well as new castmates Mark Lewis Jones, Jessica Reynolds, and Alexander Vlahos. Although the focus was on the fandom, the video revealed some Season 6 intel since the video also featured David Berry and Maria Doyle Kennedy, proving that Lord John Grey and Aunt Jocasta are back, baby. Spoilers ahead.
When Season 5's "Journeycake" premiered, Berry on Instagram seemed to indicate that his time on the show had ended. He elaborated more in an interview with news.com.au, saying, "There's so much uncertainty in the world with John's involvement in the series, whether he goes ahead with Outlander is still undetermined." But, as Courtney Williams of OutlanderBTS discussed during a virtual chat with The Dipp, there had been clues on social media that Berry was on the set. And now, on World Outlander Day, fans officially know the truth that Lord John Grey will be in Season 6.
Although he's not a big presence in the sixth Outlander book by Diana Gabaldon, A Breath of Snow and Ashes, he does give Brianna and Roger a gemstone that allows them to travel back to their time. He also is around when Bree meets her secret half-brother William. (Sadly, there was no sighting of an actor who could play grown-up William in the World Outlander Day video, but that's best left as an onscreen surprise anyway.) It's also possible the show created additional scenes for Lord John as they've done in past seasons.
As for Doyle Kennedy's Jocasta, she wasn't given any sort of sendoff in Season 5, so it seemed likely she would return. And there Doyle Kennedy is — on set in a fabulous hooded cloak. For Jocasta's potential Season 6 storylines, Jamie and Claire could visit her at River Run for Flora MacDonald's barbecue. The show might also address the Jacobite gold from the French that she claimed was all used to build her plantation. Whether or not the Bugs will be involved is TBD.
Missing from the video were César Domboy and Lauren Lyle. In an Instagram Story from March 30, Lyle noted she was back home in London after she had been on the Season 6 set in Glasgow. She's currently filming her new ITV show, Karen Pirie. It seems her time on the Outlander set was finished by the time this video was filmed, which may prove that the Starz series will follow the book when it comes to Fergus and Marsali's storyline of leaving the Ridge for New Bern.
Beyond confirming the return of Berry and Doyle Kennedy, the video had the rest of the cast recognizing the fans, with Heughan saying, "Honestly, we couldn't be doing this show without them." Newcomer Vlahos even gave a shoutout to his fan account OutVLAnder. So however you spend World Outlander Day — drinking, dressing up — in the words of Berry, it's going to be a wonderful one with this Season 6 cast confirmation.
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Images: Starz