Outlander Season 7 Gets November Return Date; Is It Worth the 1.5-Year Cliffhanger?

Summary

• Outlander Season 7 has received an official release date.
• We have to wait another six months.
• Considering that production on the season was completed before the Hollywood strikes, the decision to split the season seems more than ridiculous.

It's finally upon us, dear friends! After a year of agonizing draughtlander, Starz has finally announced the release date for the new episodes of Season 7, the first half of which ended in August 2023. Aside from fan speculation and Diana Gabaldon's source material, not much was known about the upcoming events, but as the WGA and SAG-AFTRA strikes came to an end, more and more intriguing information, including official one, began to emerge.

As our readers probably know, Outlander will end with Season 8, and while there is much more to come, the story will begin to wrap up in Season 7B. In addition, a teaser trailer for the upcoming new episodes this fall was recently released, and with the excitement comes more than a few questions.

In particular, whether the network made the right marketing move, as the cliffhanger that ended Season 7, Part 1 was probably not worth the hype Starz created, which by the time Part 2 is released will be 1.5 years…

Starz Has Released a New Teaser for Season 7B

Unfortunately, we will have to wait a full six months for new episodes. But there is good news: Starz has released a new teaser of the upcoming events. You can check it out below:

As we know, Jamie, Claire, and Young Ian set out for Scotland to ensure a proper burial for their relative, Simon Fraser, who had died fighting for the British. Meanwhile, in the 1980s, Jemmy has been kidnapped by Brianna's co-worker, who has time traveled with the kid to find the hidden treasure. Roger and Buck set out on a perilous journey through time and space, uncertain if they can ever outwit the kidnapper.

All this is a great argument to get pumped up for the upcoming events, but then the question arises. Why split the season in two with such a long gap between the two parts?

Starz's Decision to Split the Season into Two Parts Was Ill-Advised

Of course, the decision to split seasons is not uncommon these days: the popular Yellowstone, for example, will also see its second half of Season 5 in November 2024. In its case, however, the reason for the split was largely due to the Hollywood labor disputes. Outlander Season 7, on the other hand, managed to be produced before the strikes broke out.

The reason for this is obvious: Starz is following the methods of Netflix, which splits new seasons of its series to artificially create anticipation and the need to renew subscriptions.

Obviously, despite the benefits to the platform, such decisions are more than unpopular. But alas, there is no stopping the soulless corporate machine, and the trend has now been adopted by others, including, sadly, Starz.

The decision to split Season 7 is also incredibly ridiculous, as the cliffhanger with Jamie and Claire returning to Lallybroch and Roger being sent back in time doesn't seem significant enough to create a gap of a year and a half.

Perhaps there would have been no problem at all if Starz had presented 7B as Season 8 and the final Season 8 as Season 9. On the contrary, the executives are misleading fans into thinking that the wait for the second part will only be a few months (in fact, the aforementioned Netflix does exactly that, releasing the second parts of seasons within a few months).

We'll see if the anticipation was justified. Outlander Season 7B is scheduled to premiere on November 22, 2024. Season 8 will air sometime in 2025.