'Outlander' Just Dropped Its Season 7 Premiere Date & It Includes a Timing Twist That Fans of Season 1 Will Recognize

The return of Outlander is so close you can probably feel it, like Claire Fraser can feel those wonky vibrating time-traveling stones. Outlander Season 7 will premiere on June 16^th on Starz. And that’s not all. Caitríona Balfe, Sam Heughan and the rest of the cast will return for a supersized seventh season which will include 16 episodes! That’s 16 hours of Jamie and Claire Fraser. Sit down. They’re not done yet. Harkening back to season 1, which also had 16 episodes, Season 7 will be split into two parts, with the second half airing in 2024. Don’t get sad. That just means you have new episodes to look forward to in 2023 and 2024. And don’t forget, Outlander was already renewed for its eighth and final season! (You can be a little sad about that). There’s a lot to look forward to in season 7 and here are some new photos from the new season to quench your sad little droughty hearts. Let’s break each and every pixel of the photos down.

Oh wait, before we get to the new Outlander photos, let’s quickly recap where we left off in season 6. Short version: Jamie and Claire were rudely ripped apart! Again! *Stares at the screen in Diana Gabaldon.* Remember, Jamie and Claire were separated for 20 years! If they get separated again for 20 years, they’ll be super old. We’ll be super old. To be honest, they’ll be dead. (Sorry. People did not live that long in the 1700s!) But, thankfully Ian and some friends rescued Jamie, and then they all galloped off on horses to rescue Claire. And where’s Claire? In the slammer. Tom Christie (Mark Lewis Jones) is with her too, but not in the slammer luckily, he’s on the outside, maybe trying to help her? Hopefully. Tom’s a tricky little odd cat, so who knows, but he did seem like he was trying to make sure she was safe from the Brown family. Sure, Jamie and Claire got stoned (and not in the good way, in the rocks thrown at their heads way), but Tom did yell, “Stop it!” So there’s that. Thanks, Tom.

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Now onto the new photos of Outlander that dropped to fill our achy breaky Droughtlander souls.

The first is of the Queen herself. It’s Claire staring longingly into a field, looking peaceful. She deserves peace. And no, she’s not on ether either. She kicked that habit. Her hair is longer, and Fraser’s Ridge is behind her, which means, that Claire probably gets out of jail! To grow out her long flowing locks at home. I’m a detective, this is what I have detected from this one photo, and you’re welcome. Claire lives to see another Fraser-filled day. But something probably happens immediately after, that puts her life in danger because we can’t have nice things. And by we, I mean, me, Jamie, Claire, and all the Outlander fans.

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Every Queen needs a King. (Will not say “King of Men,” sorry, James). Like his wife, Jamie is also staring. But staring angrily at someone. They probably deserved it. Especially if they are being rude to his magical not-a-witch-but-definitely-dabbles-in-the-time-traveling-arts-sort-of-witch-wife. Claire. Yes. If we learned nothing from this show, it’s that Jamie Fraser does not tolerate people disrespecting his wife. Waves at Uncle Dougal from beyond the grave.

Oh look it’s “Crouching Ian, Hidden Fraser.” Ian (John Bell) is looking like he’s in full attack mode with his trusty bow and arrows. Can we pause for a second and talk about Ian’s glow-up from season 3 to now? Hell-oh, young Ian! (I wish I hadn’t said young in that sentence, but seriously bow and arrows never looked so good). In the season 6 finale, he and Uncle Jamie headed off to rescue his Aunt Claire. Here’s hoping Ian slays all of Claire’s enemies, and nicks Tom Christie with an arrow just a little bit. Like a harmless bum graze. I’m still mad at Tom from Season 6, though in the finale he did seem like he was trying to protect Claire Bear. But also wondering, does Tom have a crush on Claire? He was looking at her with weird googly Tom eyes. Ah, time will tell.

Roger and Brianna seem to be having an intense conversation. She seems a little upset, and he has his big beard and tricorn hat. I hope Roger isn’t Roger-splaining something. Season 6 saw a real turn for Roger (and me liking Roger), so Season 7 will probably have Roger making up for being such a Roger in season 4.

Lord John (David Berry) is back and so is his now grown son, who’s really Jamie’s son, William (Charles Vandervaart). The Lord and his son seem to be chatting with someone. John is looking at William all concerned and William looks like he’s talking to someone else. Could it be Jamie, the dad he doesn’t know is his dad?! I think so. Outlander, your picture cropping isn’t fooling me. Is Lord John thinking, “Crap, I hope William doesn’t realize he’s basically Jamie’s mini giant twin…”

There’s lots to look forward to in Season 7. Not only is Jamie’s son coming back on the scene, but many past Outlander characters are heading back to Fraser land. From Laoghaire (Nell Hudson) to Dougal MacKenzie (Graham McTavish), to Geilles Duncan (Lotte Verbeek), and a slew of new characters. And let’s not forget Jamie’s sister, new Jenny, who will now be played by Kristin Atherton, and Ian Murray. Steven Cree shared a little about how it was being back with Heughan and Balfe again, and working with his new on-screen wife when he chatted with SheKnows recently.

So with the new season just a little over 2 months away, plus having it split into 2 parts, with the second part in 2024, and knowing that the cast will be filming its eighth and final season, you can rest peacefully knowing that the drought is almost over and there is so much Outlander to come.

This means that you will have Outlander on your screens until 2025 possibly. What? Claire Fraser, born in 1921, roaming around in 1743, lasting all the way until 2025, which means Claire Fraser is 282. It’s Outlander math, fight me.

Here’s a countdown fact that’s sure to turn your droughty pouty frowns upside down, only 85 more days until Jamie & Claire return to our lives. Until then, you have time to re-watch all six seasons of Outlander on Starz. And if you still need more, you can read all of Diana Gabaldon’s books as well. If you forgot season 6, watch our recap with Balfe & Heughan. In this interview, we asked them at the end of season 6, if the show was challenging them enough, giving them enough growth to continue on, if they’d read book 8, and if they were excited about anything in it. Heughan replied, “Yes, yes, maybe, probably.” And it turns out he was TELLING THE TRUTH! There is indeed another season of Outlander and Balfe and Heughan are now executive producers.

Before you go, check out the all-time best ‘Outlander’ episodes you need to watch.

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