‘Outlander’ Stars Unpack Claire’s ‘Pure Mother’s Rage’ in That Season 8 Premiere, Tease What’s Next

Note: This story contains spoilers from “Outlander” Season 8, Episode 1.

As “Outlander” returns for its eighth and final season, the Season 8 premiere dives right into a moment of “pure mother’s rage” as Claire (Caitriona Balfe) confronts the man who she believes killed her and Jamie’s daughter, Faith, whom they thought to be dead.

Picking up after the discovery in the Season 7 finale that Faith might have lived and had two daughters, Season 8 picks up with Jamie and Claire meeting with the man who killed Faith under the guise of a business deal. But as they hear about the violence and assault the man forced on Faith and her daughters, Claire’s motherly instinct comes in and she stabs him right then and there, killing him.

“That’s a kind of a crazy moment,” Balfe told TheWrap. “I think in that moment, I mean, it’s so disgusting what he’s saying, and he’s talking about her child, he’s talking about her grandchildren, and I think it’s just pure mother’s rage. Not to be recommended, by the way.”

“Claire cannot help herself — she’s adamant and driven by her rage at this man, and of course, Jamie has to back her up,” Sam Heughan added. “It’s terrifying to see what may have happened to Faith and and Fanny. But ultimately, Jamie and Claire are adament, and they’re going to find out and get to the truth of it.”

While the Season 7 finale saw Jamie and Claire in shock over the possibility that Faith lived, Season 8 gives the couple a chance to mourn what could’ve been as they figure out the implications for how it all happened and what that means for Fanny.

“To have lost a chance of a life with your child is really devastating,” Balfe said. “It was one of the kind of sadder moments, and when they find out who’s responsible for it. We see Claire sort of exact her revenge, which … it’s not her finest moment, but understandable.”

With Heughan noted the discovery “digs up an old wound,” he revealed he watched those Season 2 episodes again — adding there “may or may not be flashbacks to that period” — to recall where Jamie and Claire were during that tragedy. “It was not a good time for them, [it] was very challenging for their for their relationship, but also Randall was still there, and there was the reason that Jamie wasn’t with Claire when they lost Faith,” he said. “It’s interesting to see how far Jamie and Claire have gone up to this point in their journey together.”

“I don’t think you would ever get over the loss of child … thank God I don’t know what that’s like,” Balfe said, applauding Heughan’s performance of the raw emotion shown in the couple’s conversation following that confrontation. “It’s sort of like a double grief … because you’ve grieved the loss of a child, but now you have to grieve the loss of a life that you could have shared together.”

Despite the tragedy, Heughan noted “what [the situation] does give them is the joy that they get to add her to their family and to bring her home, back to Fraser’s Ridge, and to give her a life that she hasn’t had.”

“We see her coming to terms with living with them and living this new life,” Heughan said. “It’s really wonderful for Jamie as a as a grandfather, to provide for her and make her feel part of the family, which she’s never had before.”

With Jamie and Claire still trying to figure out what the discovery means for them, Balfe said the couple is waiting to disclose their identity to Fanny.

“They don’t know the truth themselves, and I think until they know the truth, they probably wouldn’t tell her,” Heughan said. “[There’s] secrets they’ve had from other family members as well, in terms of time travel and who Claire is — there’s many secrets, actually, that they have to keep, but they’re just glad to have her as part of the extended family.”

The family at Fraser’s Ridge grows even more when Brianna (Sophie Skelton) and Roger (Richard Rankin) reach Jamie and Claire in a tear-filled reunion that Balfe and Heughan relished.

“That was a really lovely part to be able to film — we had missed shooting with those guys for a long time, obviously, because our storylines had been apart, so as actors, we were all really excited to be all back together again as well,” Balfe said. “For the characters it was so important —they thought they were never going to see each other, and I think after what happened in in the very beginning of Episode 8, this, in some way, is a salve to that, I think, and it helps, sort of ease the pain of that a little.”

Their arrival also gives Jamie and Claire some information as they pass along a book written by Frank Randall that, as unveiled in the trailer, reveals that Jamie dies in an upcoming battle, offering him another chance to face his mortality.

“Jamie’s really struggles with it this season, and he it really gets under his skin. It really starts to drive him crazy. He can’t deal with it, and he tries to keep it a secret in some ways, from Claire, and the fact that the information is coming from Frank is also digging up old wounds for sure,” Heughan said. “Jamie is now facing his mortality, and I think he knows that dodging or trying to change fate hasn’t worked out in the past, so why would it work out this time?”

“Outlander” Season 8 releases new episodes Fridays on the Starz app, and Sundays on Starz’s linear channel.

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