5 Things to Look Forward to When Outlander’s Season 3 Tackles Voyager

The second season of Outlander aired its final episode this weekend, and no small amount of blood and tears (not to mention kilts!) were shed in the process. On the morn of the Battle of Culloden, having murdered Dougal Mackenzie and made himself a traitor to his clan, Jamie sent Claire back through time to 1948 after one last passionate moment amid the magic stone circle. And Claire, fully believing that her true love died that morning on the battlefield, remained in 1948, gave birth to Jaime’s daughter, and spent the next twenty years keeping her child’s true lineage a secret—only to discover in the last moments of the episode that Jamie survived, and was perhaps still alive on the other side of the portal.
It was a hell of a moment to cut to black, just as it’s a huge cliffhanger at the end of Diana Gabaldon’s Dragonfly in Amber, the second novel in the series on which Outlander is based. But while viewers will have a long wait before we see Claire and Jamie together again onscreen, there’s enough tantalizing info out there about the adaptation of the third book, Voyager, to keep us more than occupied in the off-season. Here are 5 things we’re really looking forward to.

More simmering, sexy tension between Brianna and Roger
200 years after Jamie put a knife in Dougal’s heart, Frasers and Mackenzies continue to have complicated relationships—as evidenced by the flirtatious, familiar, and occasionally combative dynamic between the recently-acquainted Brianna Randall (Claire’s daughter by Jamie) and Roger Mackenzie, the cute bearded descendant of Geilis Duncan and Dougal Mackenzie. These two are significant characters in all the Outlander books from Dragonfly in Amber on, and they’ll be instrumental next season in the quest to return Claire to Jamie’s time.
Historical intrigues and the laws of time-travel
Geilis Duncan, a.k.a. Gillian, was witnessed entering the stone portal in 1968 — yet somehow arrived in 18th century Scotland before Claire. How? We’re unlikely to get an explanation, per se (Diana Gabaldon is notoriously close-mouthed about how the time-travel in her books works), but Voyager does at least explore the question as Claire, Brianna, and Roger work to trace Jamie’s history from 1745 on, with the goal of returning Claire to the right moment in the past to reconnect with him.

A middle-aged Jaime
We’ve already seen how time has changed Claire, both physically and in terms of character; but next season, we’ll get a gander at what’s become of Jamie after 20 years as an outlaw in the highlands. Potentially titillating teaser: Sam Heughan is lobbying hard for his character to become a bit of a fatty. Hey, as long as he doesn’t lose his beautiful hair…
Gut-wrenching betrayal
Not to be the world’s biggest buzzkill, but you’ll want to gird your loins for a less-than-happy reunion between Outlander‘s two main characters. When Claire returns to the past in Voyager, she does, indeed, find Jamie — in a compromising position with Laoghaire, the hateful little hussy who tried to have Claire burned at the stake in 1745. (Maybe if you get used to the idea now, it won’t be so painful when you see it onscreen.)

A boat trip to paradise
And finally, get ready to bid a fond farewell to the misty, wild landscape of Scotland and all its roguish, kilted, faintly filthy highlanders. By this time next year, Claire and Jamie will have departed for warmer climes, as the drama of Voyager takes a sharp turn into piracy on the West Indian seas. Sure, we’ll miss Scotland — but who among us won’t be thrilled to see Jamie doing some good old-fashioned swashbuckling?
How are you whiling away the hours before season 3 is upon us?