Today, the final season of Outlander premieres on Starz. As season eight starts, Jamie (Sam Heughan) and Claire (Caitríona Balfe) discover that after leaving the Revolutionary War behind them, things have changed when they return to Fraser’s Ridge. It is now home to new arrivals and has become a thriving settlement since their absence. With all these changes they have to decide what they are willing to give up for the place they call home, even as it changes, and what they will give up to stay together. Also, family secrets are revealed that may break them. When Roger (Richard Rankin) and Brianna (Sophie Skelton) return with information from the future, it could mean death for one of the characters.

Alongside the central couples, the story highlights the next generation as Young Ian (John Bell) and Rachel Murray (Izzy Meikle-Small) begin building a life together at Fraser’s Ridge, welcoming the next generation of the Murray family, a sign of hope for the future even as the world around them becomes increasingly unstable.

Recently, Bell and Meikle-Small spoke with SciFi Vision about how becoming parents changes their characters, whether they were given or took anything from the set to remember their time on the series by, and how their lives have changed since starting work on the series.

Watch the interview and read the transcript below.



SCIFI VISION:   So, this season they're becoming parents, talk about that and sort of how do you feel like it's changing your characters overall, just inherently, whichever one of you wants to go first.

JOHN BELL:   …How does it feel to be a dad? It feels great, I mean, yes, he's already a dad, but to have gone through the experience of childbirth in the 1700s and not be traumatised by it is quite the achievement for everyone involved, especially his wife. So, I think there's a big sense of relief for Ian and the dawning of a new chapter for him. I also think it brings up a lot of questions about his past for him again and maybe has he dealt with everything that he needs to have dealt with in order to start this new chapter with a fresh energy and a clean perspective. So, those are questions that are certainly going to be brought up because of this birth but in that moment nothing but pure joy, nothing but fatherly joy and love and happiness for his little baby and his gorgeous wife.

SCIFI VISION:   Izzy?

IZZY MEIKLE-SMALL:   Yeah, I think for Rachel it's slightly less complicated, she has never been in love before, she's never been married before, and I think she realises that she's taking on a lot of Ian's kind of emotional baggage, but that she thinks that that's all been dealt with and that it's only good times and sunshine ahead, and maybe that's not quite what happens, but that's okay. It's all part of the complex emotional journey. I think she's thrilled to be a mother, she's thrilled to have her own family, she's thrilled to be settled on the ridge with her new family. I think it's the beginning of a huge new chapter for her and for them together, and yeah I think she's a great mom as well.

SCIFI VISION:   What have you two either been given or taken from the set? Is there anything to remember the show by now that [you've wrapped]?

IZZY MEIKLE-SMALL:   Did you take anything? Did you steal anything?

JOHN BELL:   I don't know that I stole.

SCIFI VISION:   That’s why I said given or taken!

JOHN BELL:   I was given Ian's arm cuff by Maril [Davis]. She presented that to me on my last day, and so that sits proudly on my mantelpiece in my bedroom. So, that's quite sweet. Yeah, I have that, and I may or may not have a bow and arrow.

IZZY MEIKLE-SMALL:   You should have [took] the bow and arrow, that's the best part. I really wanted my corset, because they custom made me a corset which was like amazing and so cool, and I was like, “I would love to have that, but didn't get it.”

SCIFI VISION:   I was going to say sometimes costumes like that.

IZZY MEIKLE-SMALL:   I know, I think they probably kept it to use for something else, which is fair enough, but I did get to keep like one of Rachel's little like neckerchiefs, which I do sometimes wear, because I really like it. So, I carry her around with me every day.

SCIFI VISION:   How do you both feel like your lives have changed since you've started this show at the beginning?

JOHN BELL:   I mean, it's trying to sum that up is so hard for me, because it's been ten years. I joined this show when I was eighteen, I'm now twenty-eight, I think. [laughs]

SCIFI VISION:   You're not sure.

JOHN BELL:   Not sure, not sure, all kind of blends together now, but it's hard to sum up. What's nice about the show ending is that I get to have hair again, so goodbye bald.

IZZY MEIKLE-SMALL:   Yeah, for me I think I was on the show for such a smaller amount of time and kind of came in at the end, that it's kind of been a very different experience for me than for John, but I think that Outlander was the first job I kind of did after coming back post-uni. I was a child actor, and then I went to uni and had some time out, and it's kind of been my first kind of big proper job back as an adult actor, and I've had a lot of fun with it. I've had such an amazing time, and I've never really done TV in this format before. I've never gotten to come back and play a part again and like slip back into a character. That's all been amazing and a huge learning curve, and I think that, yeah, it's I feel like I learned a lot on this job, but I also got to meet some of the most amazing people, and yeah, really just I will always remember this as like a really pivotal job for me I think.

JOHN BELL:   Yeah, I just I would add as well like the relationships that I'm taking away from this job have changed my life profoundly, and I have friends for life, so yeah, that's a huge part of this for me. It's all about the relationships really when you look back.