Exclusive! Read Diana Gabaldon's Sweet Tribute to 'Outlander' Fans Upon News of Series End

Diana Gabaldon says "'Outlander' effect" will go on long after hit TV series ends.

There was good news and bad news and then more good news in the Outlander world today with the reveal by STARZ that the series based on the bestselling novels by Diana Gabaldon had been picked up for an eighth season but that that would be the final season.

It’s good news because the story can be brought to its rightful conclusion with the advance knowledge that the 10-episode eighth season would be the final one. Plus, we still have the 16-episode seventh season to enjoy.

The bad news is we will miss Jamie (Sam Heughan) and Claire Fraser (Caitríona Balfe) and the rest of the Fraser/MacKenzie clan once their story is finished being told.

The other bit of good news was that STARZ also revealed that the previously announced 10-episode prequel series, Outlander: Blood of My Blood, centering on the lives and love of Jamie’s parents, Brian Fraser and Ellen MacKenzie, was given the green light and will be produced by the same team that gives us Outlander, Matthew B. Roberts, Maril Davis and Ronald D. Moore.

Related: Outlander To End With Season 8 on STARZ

When contacted by Parade, in an exclusive statement, Gabaldon expressed deep gratitude to everyone who made the Outlander TV series a phenomenon:

“I'm thrilled (and deeply grateful) to have had so many hugely talented people give my books ten precious years of their lives,” she said. “Sam Heughan told me, early on, that filming is ‘intense and relentless’—and it IS! And not only for the actors; the entire crew (of 250 or so people) is out there as well, and while writers and producers can occasionally hide in their offices long enough to get warm, they often go on working long after filming has ended for the day—because there's always tomorrow.

“And you know...there is.

“Yes, Season Eight is the last season of the STARZ version of Outlander. It's a wonderful body of work, and will always (well, until everything is expunged by an electromagnetic pulse from the sun) be available for us to enjoy. But it's not only this show. I always think it's entertaining when people refer to 'the Outlander phenomenon' or 'the Outlander Effect'-- but you know, there is an effect. The story and its evolutions and long-lasting effects will go on, no doubt in many different forms. Because that's what this story does.”

Related: Fans React to Outlander Coming to an End After Season 8

As for Outlander: Blood of My Blood, it is a prequel based on Gabaldon’s as yet unfinished novel that she is in the process of writing, but she will definitely have input into the series.

"I have written a three-page synopsis of what I conceive to be the beginning of the book,” Gabaldon told an audience at the Edinburgh International Book Festival prior to the prequel being given the pickup. “I gave them that to work off, which they are doing. Meanwhile, I will show them the pieces of the book I am writing. They will use what they can use. That is all assuming the show is green-lit. If it does, I will certainly be involved in it.”

Outlander Season 7 is currently filming in Scotland and will air sometime this coming summer.

Next, Outlander Season 7 Is Filming—And STARZ Just Revealed When It Will Return!