Will Season 5 of "Outlander" Reintroduce Stephen Bonnet? Here's What We Know

From Oprah Magazine

• Outlander season 5 premieres on February 16 on Starz. Check out our complete fan guide here.

• While we're excited for Claire (Caitríona Balfe) and Jamie's (Sam Heughan) return, we're also wondering whether the new season will give villain Stephen Bonnet more airtime.

• Bonnet's fate was unclear in season 4, so to get to the bottom of it, we turned to Diana Gabaldon's books for some intel.

• Warning: Book-related spoilers ahead.

Outlander fans probably thought it would be difficult to top the treachery invoked by Jonathan "Black Jack" Randall from seasons 1 to 3. But villain Stephen Bonnet (Ed Speleers) entered the picture in season 4 and we were proven wrong.

Not long after we were introduced to the pirate, Bonnet succeeded in establishing bad blood with each member of the Fraser-Randall-MacKenzie clan. From robbery to murder and rape, his terror was relentless. And at the end of season 4, his fate seemed to be left in the air. Was he really killed in that prison explosion or are we likely to see him return in season 5? Though we predict the latter, Starz has yet to formerly announce Speleers's return to the show.

Below, an overview of Bonnet's misdeeds in season 4.

Warning: There are book-related spoilers at the end of this story.

Episode 1, "Two Swords"

The season 4 premiere saw Claire and Jamie reunited—and it also welcomed Stephen Bonnet. (Fans who hadn't read the books were blissfully unaware of what was to come). After escaping execution in prison, Bonnet, now an outlaw, sneakily hides on Claire and Jamie's wagon.

They soon discover him, but after he appeals to their sympathy, they allow him to remain on their journey so that he can reach the river without getting caught. Bonnet narrowly escapes detection after Claire and Jamie are stopped by soldiers on the road, sustaining a minor wound, which Claire (of course) tends to. Bonnet is successfully dropped off at the river, but not before admiring Claire's two wedding rings and warning the couple about thieves. Foreshadowing, anyone?

A few days later, Bonnet returns but on less friendly terms. He and his men attack our favorite lovers in the middle of the night, beating Jamie, stealing money, killing their friend Lesley, and snatching one of Claire's rings. And yes, Bonnet gets away with all of it.

Episode 7, "Mockingbird"

After successfully passing through The Stones, Roger (Richard Rankin) is more than eager to travel to the American colonies so he can find Brianna. He finds passage on the ship "Glorianna," which just so happens to be captained by none other than Bonnet. Roger has no idea of what Bonnet is capable of and cracks a deal with him for labor in exchange for a spot on the boat.

During their voyage, Roger quickly becomes privy to Bonnet's callousness, as the pirate soon orders anyone on the ship who appears ill with small pox to be thrown overboard. Roger manages to save a woman and their child by hiding them and smuggling rations, but is soon caught by Bonnet, who makes him flip a coin for his life. Luckily, Roger wins out.

Episode 8, "Wilmington"

Though it seemed to start out blissfully, this episode ended in tragedy. Brianna and Roger sleep together for the first time following their reunion and romantic handfasting (a form of marriage) ceremony. But soon, Brianna learns not only that Roger found Claire and Jamie's obituary, but that he knew about their looming death and opted not to tell her. They fight and she leaves him to head back to the pub where she's staying.

That's where she comes across Bonnet, and discovers him gambling with her mother's silver ring. (Remember the one he stole when he attacked Claire and Jamie?) She's prepared to buy it back, but Bonnet lewdly propositions her instead. Brianna refuses his advances, and he rapes her as his men sit by and do nothing. He returns the ring afterward to a badly hurt and traumatized Brianna. From this moment on to the end of the series, we see the lasting effects of Bonnet's attack on Brianna, as she never fully recovers emotionally.

Episode 9, "The Birds & The Bees"

While we don't see much of Bonnet in this episode, the aftermath of Brianna's rape is impossible to shake. She reveals to Claire what happened to her and that she's pregnant and unsure of whether the baby is Bonnet or Roger's. She makes her mother promise not to tell Jamie. However, it's mistakenly told to Jamie that R0ger is the man who raped Brianna. In a rage, Jamie spots Roger wandering near their property and nearly beats him to death, instructing Ian (John Bell) to get rid of him. Jamie has now unknowingly harmed his daughter's love and made it even harder for her and Roger to be reunited.

Episode 12, "Providence"

As a result of all the harm Bonnet has caused the Fraser/Randall family, Murtagh is able to capture and imprison Bonnet—but ends up getting arrested himself. Word gets back to Brianna that Bonnet has been caught. After reading a letter from Jamie, she becomes motivated to face her rapist and visits him in jail.

Brianna bravely faces Bonnet and tells him that she forgives him, while also revealing that her son may be his child. In a rare and honest move, Bonnet gifts her a ruby to put towards raising the boy. Not too soon after their talk, Fergus leads a group of Regulators through a prison break in an effort to free Murtagh. The building explodes, but not before viewers see Bonnet struggling to reach the keys to unlock his chains. The season ends with a cliffhanger that left us wondering: when will we see Bonnet next?

So, will Stephen Bonnet actually return in season 5?

Warning: there are major spoilers ahead.

The only clues we have relating to Stephen Bonnet's fate come from author Diana Gabaldon's fifth and sixth Outlander books, Drums of Autumn and A Breath of Snow and Ashes.

In the fifth book, Bonnet survives a warehouse explosion as he tries to help Brie and Lord John escape. But after he arrives at Wilmington, North Carolina to steal from Aunt Jocasta and find out whether he has a son with Brianna, Brianna shoots him in retaliation.

It isn't until book six that readers learn that the pirate is in fact alive. He kidnaps Brianna and attempts to sell her, but he's captured and sentenced to drown to death. Drowning is his greatest fear, so Brianna shoots him before he has to suffer. And that's that.

The show is known to largely mirror the books with a few plot point changes here and there. So if that trend remains, it's pretty much guaranteed that we'll see Bonnet again.

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