‘Outlander’: Caitriona Balfe Says Fans Will See Claire ‘Destabilized’ in Season 6

Meaghan Darwish October 29, 2021, 1:00 pm

Outlander Season 6 Sam Heughan and Caitriona Balfe — Starz

Caitriona Balfe may be returning as Claire Fraser for Outlander‘s upcoming sixth season, but before the Droughtlander ends, the actress is currently promoting her new movie Belfast, which is garnering a ton of Oscar buzz.

This means the star is doing double-duty press by answering questions about her role in the Starz hit along the way. In a recent interview for Variety‘s Awards Circuit Podcast, Balfe opened up about Season 6 and teased what’s next for both her character and Sam Heughan‘s Jamie Fraser.

“It’s a bit of a truncated season, but it’s very… there’s a lot going on,” the actress teased. “There’s some new people that arrive at the Ridge and they really kind of throw things into disarray,” she added, hinting at the Christies, a family led by patriarch Tom Christie (Mark Lewis Jones), a man with ties to Jamie’s stint in Ardsmuir.

(Credit: Starz)

“For Claire, it’s a really cool season, actually,” the star went on. “You’re gonna see Claire destabilized in a way that we’ve never really seen her before. And a lot of that has to do with the repercussions of what happened at the end of last season.”

That fifth season finale saw Claire being held hostage by antagonist Lionel Brown (Ned Denehy) and his crew who abused the doctor as they traveled through the dark forests of North Carolina. Ultimately, Jamie led a rescue crew to her and massacred Lionel and his men in the process. But based on what Balfe’s said, it’s clearly going to take a while for her to overcome the trauma. “It’s really good stuff,” Balfe gushed. “I’m excited for everyone to see.”

Of course, it’s not all about Claire’s struggles; there’s plenty of drama to go around. “Jamie has a lot on his plate, too,” Balfe shared. “He’s trying to straddle a couple of different political lines, so he’s, on one hand, trying to placate the British, but also he knows that the British are gonna lose the war, so he doesn’t want to be caught on the wrong side.”

'Outlander' Treats Sam Heughan Fans With First Look at Jamie in Season 6 (PHOTO)

Balfe continued to gush, “Sam has some amazing work and I think everyone’s gonna be excited.” And thankfully, viewers can look forward to more from Balfe and Heughan as Starz already renewed the time-traversing romantic fantasy series for a seventh season.

As for continuing the show beyond its current order, Balfe said, “I think as long as the scripts remain good and we still have new things to explore, I think that that’s always good.” She went on to share, “if we can all be excited about the work that we’re doing, that’s to me, the gravy, so, let’s see.”

Stay tuned for more news about Outlander‘s upcoming season as we approach 2022, and catch up on Seasons 1-5 in the meantime.

Outlander, Season 6 Premiere, Early 2022, Starz