'Outlander: Blood of My Blood' to Premiere on Starz in August

While many Outlander fans are likely already in the feelings about the flagship show's impending conclusion — the final season has already been shot, though it's likely to be split in half and unlikely to begin airing before the end of the year — it's a comfort to know that the series' fictional universe will go on after the final credits roll. And sooner than many of us likely expected. Starz has announced that the highly anticipated prequel series Outlander: Blood of My Blood will premiere this summer, which will focus on two separated but deeply connected love stories: Those of Claire and Jamie's parents.

Told across two timelines that span the sweeping Highlands of 18th century Scotland to the battlefields of World War I, the series will follow two parallel love stories: Jamie's parents, Ellen MacKenzie and Brian Fraser, and Claire's mother and father, Julia Moriston and Henry Beauchamp.

We know a bit about Ellen's life thanks to Claire's time as a guest among the Mackenzies back in Outlander's first season, but little in the way of specifics about her relationship with Jamie's father. The Mackenzies didn't approve of the match, given Brian's illegitimate status, and tried to force Ellen into an arranged marriage against their dead father's wishes. The fallout resulted in a rift between Ellen and her brother Colum that never healed.