'Outlander' Says Hello & Goodbye in SDCC 2025 Double Feature

It was fitting that Outlander received the largest room available for its final appearance at San Diego Comic-Con 2025, as the series has maintained a passionate fan base despite being stuck on Starz, one of the streaming services that is not thriving in the current landscape. Series star Caitriona Balfe was unable to attend (she just joined the cast of the forthcoming adaptation of Sense & Sensibility from Focus Features, which is currently filming overseas). However, Sam Heughan, Sophie Skelton, and Richard Rankin gamely showed up to present the first look at the show’s final season and thank the fandom for their support over the show’s 12-year run.

The family atmosphere was present both in the Outlander and in the Outlander: Blood of My Blood panel which directly followed. Then prequel series, which will follow the stories of both Jamie and Claire’s parents, debuts in August 2025, less than two weeks away, and moderator Kate Hahn delighted in introducing stars new cast members, including Jamie Roy and Harriet Slater (they play Jaime’s parents, Brian Fraser and Ellen MacKenzie), and Hermione Corfield (who plays Claire’s mother, Julia Moriston), all three of which bear uncannily resemblances to the actors who play their future adult children.

Supporting actors Sam Retford and Seamus McLean Ross (as Dougal & Colum MacKenzie), and Rory Alexander (as Murtagh Fitzgibbons Fraser) were also on hand. (Jeremy Irvine, who plays Claire’s father, Henry Beauchamp, followed his daughter’s lead and was too busy filming another project to attend.) The honor of best question went to audience member Graham McTavish (the older Dougal McKenzie in Outlander), for Retford inquiring how he is such a hair farmer. (McTavish is famously a cueball.) Retford didn’t answer, but told the assembled crowd he’d only met McTavish upon arriving at the event, “And it was very strangely like meeting my dad.”