“Outlander” is returning with the concluding episodes of its seventh season this month, but its stars have already wrapped official production on the show’s eighth and final season. Caitríona Balfe and Sam Heughan, who have played time traveler Claire and 18th century Highlander Jamie since the show began, recently teased their bittersweet goodbye. Speaking less than a fortnight after their official wrap day, with only a few pick-up shots left to shoot, the stars described filming their final scene for the upcoming season.
“It was very emotional. I was very emotional,” Balfe said. “I was, too,” Heughan agreed.
“We ended on a scene, well, I think — it was quite tough to do because it was a real Jamie-Claire moment, so it felt quite fitting. And I think they scheduled it like that. But it was also quite intense because a lot of the crew came to sort of celebrate or watch the final take of the final scene.
” “And there was a lot of words,” added Balfe. “It was really hard to get through it because it also felt like everything had sort of this double meaning, you know, it’s a lot of talk about goodbyes and things.” Based on the books by Diana Gabaldon and mostly filmed in Scotland, the long-running show has leapt across time periods, including the Jacobite Rising, 1740s Versailles, 1960s Boston, the Revolutionary War — and more.
“I played Jamie when he was 23 and now he’s sort of around 60. So it’s quite a journey,” said Heughan. “The sh.