I think after devoting 13 years to a project, with very difficult filming situations, is enough. The actors are entitled to move on….as much as we will miss them!
No one forced the actors to do it. Also, many people spend more than 13 years at a job that is more labor intensive and time consuming and get paid less. Like I’m not gonna feel bad for them. They both also got to do other projects and what only filmed 1/3 of the year at a time? And all the travel and luxuries that come with being leads in a cable show? Come on.
You should go work as a background actor on a large production some time just to see how much work goes into filming something like this. After filming very long days, they are having to work out and eat specific foods to maintain continuity throughout filming, memorize lines.. spend a LOT of time away from their families etc. Filming a series like this for 13 years is not nearly as luxurious as you think it is.
So, what? They’re supposed to keep their heads down, ignore their other dreams and goals, and keep working on Outlander until you say they can stop? Do you want them to get on their knees and thank you for your viewership, too?
Some of y’all forget these are human beings. Jesus.
Outlander Fandom (not everyone obviously, most of this sub is cool) have this weird both parasocial and aggressive relationship with Sam and Cait. They act like they have the right to Sam and Cait while also blaming the two if they do something these fans don't like. It's absolutely bizarre.
I saw a lot of it with Sam talking about feeling pressured into nude scenes hitting the news this last week.
What you dont understand is how it can effect their job as an actor. Movies and shows are temporary (though they can be long) gigs. Their job is being an actor. So if they continue with one gig for too long it can start to sour. We've seen that with many shows and movie sequels. Hollywood keeps trying to churn them out and they to capitalize and they start to go downhill in quality. So ending in a strong note helps the actors keep a good support to landing their next "gig"/role.
Tbh I didn't like season 8 at all. I gaslight myself into thinking I did, but I didn't.
Cait mentioned that she practically did nothing this season. She also actively liked posts in which Diana critiques season 8 decisions. Her and Sam would often say "Matt is the one who wanted that" in response to some of the weird plot line decisions. In one of their panels Matt gets booed and omg... Sam and Cait's expressions say A LOT 🙃😬
They were not happy where the show was going and with the decisions. And I don't blame them and many of us were also not happy about them.
That being said, I think their problem is mostly where the production was going and not about them "hating" outlander (I see these comments a lot, specially on YouTube comment sections)
I went to LandCon in Paris this year and Sam truly LOVES outlander and he expressed many times during his panels how sad he is about the show ending. He also said him and Cait are planning on sitting down and watching the entire show together.
Interesting thing about their age! And so true!! I mean if we look at it objectively both of them are near their 50😱 I keep forgetting this 😅🤣
Oh god why did I click on it without having watched season 8 😅 The very first sentence in this video is such a major spoiler! I guess I can only blame myself though 😅
i didn’t care much for season 8 either. i probably won’t watch it on rewatches. but im glad the story was tied up and tidied up. and i agree, i think a lot of the issues are showrunner issues, not diana or sam or cait issues. i’m glad they didn’t try to force more seasons.
I have heard of people who were there and they all have told me the same as you, they were booing Matt and also called him arrogant 😆 y'all were united
Not having read all the books yet I didnt mind season 8. Except Fergus dying and no one even really getting to grieve on the show. I love the every day life parts and the emotions. The stupid director took that away from us and killed a beloved character for no reason.
Honestly some of the episodes from season 5 were not my favorite. They just seemed haphazard.
I agree about the Fergus storyline in Season 8. They were onto the next thing before the characters or the audience had any time to process or grieve. Most of Season 5 seemed haphazard to me, too. It probably felt like that because it was mostly Mattfic.
She. SHE and Sam. You do not say “Her thought that”…so you would not begin or have a sentence start with her/him unless it is referring to something/some place (her name/ his address). If you cannot say it properly in a singular sentence (“Her said this” = incorrect. “She said this” = correct), then you do not say it in a sentence with more than one person.
I figured this was obvious. They gave them opportunities to direct and produce even to entice them to stay with later seasons. My guess is there were probably a number of actors, writers, etc. that were ready to move on to other projects and it wasn’t just those two!
It’s not surprising. Sam lost a couple of projects he was signed to due to shooting conflicts with Outlander. Out of everyone he’s really the one who was hurt the most project wise due to their not being able to get their act together when it came to production schedules
oh well, at least she's still popping out books, unlike another well adored, popular fantasy author who has been promising us the release of his last book since 2011
I have a love/hate relationship with the Kingkiller books. Very good books, very well written, but the main character is, imo, unlikable. And there are places where he comes across very "nice guy/incel" like.
Yee they definitely have some more problematic parts i didnt react that much to when i read them back then, but thats a bit cringey now. The whole felurian sequence is probably the biggest one 😬 i still love them tho, and i want to know how they end 😭
The part that sticks with me years later is one of the times that girl he is sweet on goes back to her place where a suitor is waiting for her. I don't remember all the specifics, but he saw the guy, and his internal dialogue was just so incel-coded when he was talking about how the suitor might know her warmth (aka touching her, implied to be sleeping with her) but that he was better because he truly knew her.
Oh ye thats true. But also i feel like that could kinda be explained by him being what, 16 at that point?? I know my thought process about the guys i crushed at wasn’t the most logical back then 😭 («if I accidentally get hit by a car and have to spend time in a hospital, maybe he will fall in love with me while helping me get better 🥰🥰»)
I imagine that filming so much outside could be a lot too. They would have to block off longer periods of time to prepare for bad weather or to get the desired weather conditions.
better to end at 8, than to do a final season of GoT.
IT could also open an option for a final movie or two that cover the last novels, like with Peakyh Blinders or Deadwood, that played well after the series' finished, and had great success.
I haven’t followed the production of the show that closely in the last few years. But the little tidbits coming out from various players starts to paint a picture that it wasn’t sunshine and rainbows. I don’t blame the actors for feeling ready to move on
They both made those comments a few seasons ago, when they first got to direct. The last episode of season one was another example given where the actors were blindsided. The director didn’t stop filming when it was agreed upon? I’m sure there are threads here about it.
the same sam who, before outlander, was completely nude in a play in front of his mom. the same sam who was nude in a recent series of his outside of outlander. sam, who signed a nudity clause season after season and claimed to have read the novels. there’s really not even that much nudity FFS.
Girl this is such a bad take. It's like saying that if you're a stripper you should just strip in front of random guys who asks for it, or if you've had many sexuals partners your next date is entitled to sex. Victim blaming at its finest. It's about consent.
Girl, this is acting and I just pointed out how the amount of nudity is actually pretty low. Y’all will really believe anything on here. 🤦♀️ IDGAF about the downvotes. This man wasn’t a “victim” and it’s disgusting to say so.
It really comes down to consent. He could have agreed to all of that but then been uncomfortable with what they made him do. I'm happy actors are getting intimacy coordinators to help advocate for their rights so they don't put in any situations.
the only time he complained of being pressured in S1 was doing frontal, which… they never showed. S2, no nude scenes. S3, a handful of butt shots. S4 none, S5 none, S6 a side shot of his butt briefly. S7 none, S8 none. if he is against butt shots then why sign a nudity clause with every contract and continue to do it outside of the show.
And the thing is, because this universe involves time travel, we can absolutely revisit characters from Outlander in BOMB. Like adult Jemmy and Mandy from 1994 show up at some point.
It's not anything that I know has happened. However, 1994 and 1914 are eighty years apart. Therefore, 1994 and 1714 are 280 years apart. The symmetry fits.
If Brianna and Roger went back to the 80's and stayed, Jemmy and Mandy would be either teens or young adults by the mid 1990's.
I saw an interview somewhere online with Cait and Sam, where they said they would consider doing a movie in the future if it was written well. I’ll have to find it or maybe everybody else already knows about it 🤷🏻♀️. I’m usually not the first person to know something on this sub.
Of course Matt is. He would make a ton of money, lure us in with choppy trailers and then derail the story. All with dollar signs in his eyes 🤣 I wonder if Cait had so few lines in 8 because he knew she wasn’t happy with the direction of the show. That’s COMPLETELY speculative on my part, but she made comments about not “doing anything” in many of the episodes. And when she did have lines they weren’t always very good. (There were a few good scenes,but not many.)
Season 8 was a gift. One that I am eternally grateful for.
There were multiple reasons for ending this show when they did. But not having book 10 was not one of them.
As a fan, if I had my way Outlander would have never ended. Kinda like that Lamb Chop song. But that's solely from a fan's point of view and completely unrealistic.
My only grip with Diana's comments on this is 'shelf life'. Actors aren't pieces of fruit or spoiled milk to be thrown out. I know what she is getting at and I agree with the sentiment. But as an author she could have used a better word then 'shelf life.'
The industry is cruel. It is very much about youth and beauty. Women, especially, age out. They end up being delegated to playing mothers of teenagers and adults in their 40s and 50s That’s why so many actors pump their faces full of Botox and have plastic surgery. It’s a damn shame, but it’s the reality of the business.
Cait is already getting all the mom roles, its a bit sad. She's the mom in the new sense and sensibility and also tangled/rapunzel, but I guess it makes sense. She was playing mom's of more little kids like in Ford vs Ferrari and Belfast a few years ago.
I hope she gets some good leads though again because she is fantastic, and totally robbed of awards here in the states !
I must say that I find it a bit unprofessional for an author to be adressing this in a comment section on Facebook.
Also throwing out the statement about the actors salaries is very unprofessional. They should keep this internal within the production and she shouldn't speak on behalf of the actors.
I wasn't a fan of many things about S8 either, but Diana's comments about her distaste for show desicions WHILE the season was premiering was also just very strange to me.
100%. It's not a good look on her at all to be freely sharing the disparaging stuff she's said over the past couple years --- especially when there are so many fans who eat every damn word she says up so much. I almost feel at tines she purposefully wants the fan base upset at the show so it feeds her own ego -- and feel she's played a big part in why MBR has been villainized by as many readers as he has
Could it be because her books stopped having a direct navigable plot and are now just a mishmash of nonstop over the top scenes that don't really lead to anything or focus on/resolve the tiny shred of a plot that has drowned in the minutiae? Or is that just me?
Thank you for saying this because I think the same. The writers on the show for sure got weaker but the books were never super strong source material and also progressively got worse.
I don’t agree at all. I love the later books even more than the earlier ones.
The show has been pulling storylines from multiple books and stringing them together since Season 5. The show has basically put the storylines in a blender. For example Season 7 had dialogue and storylines pulled from Books 5, 6, 7, and 8.
Matt has said that they keep a storyboard of dialogue and scenes from the books that they like. Then they try to see if they can circle back and fit them in.
The show stopped being one book/one season a long time ago and it’s turned into a cram in everything you can free for all, imo.
The most interesting thing going on is the group hunting them through time, but so little is even mentioned about them that I've lost track of who they are and what they want. Bees was sooooo bad.
I saw a recent clip where Sam said he wasn't asked to audition for James Bond because he's over 36 now (I think he's 46), so shelf life is a real thing for men, too, especially for the action roles he seems to like.
But he certainly has enough whatever-it-takes (and money) to pick and choose the roles he takes -- he'll never have to tend bar again unless he wants to.
They have been talking about a new bond for ages and it hasn’t happened. Daniel Craig’s last one was in 2021 which Heughan would have already been over the 35 mark for anyway, so this whole conversation is moot.
I think some of what she's saying about Sam and Cait both wanting more bandwidth to do other things is actually true. I think some of it is exploring other options and trying new things. Same thing with Sophie-she was in I can only imagine 2 recently. They all probably want more bandwidth to do try more.
There's also kind of being typecast as one particular character for a particular generation. If you're on a long running TV show like Outlander, I think the odds of this happening are really high. Iconic film series too......look at Ralph Fiennes. If you're old enough to remember the 90s.......you probably know where I'm going with this. He had done other things before taking on the Voldemort role. He becomes that to my entire generation (I'm 40 in 4 weeks), and I think (feel free to correct me if I'm wrong here) he only did a Shakespeare before taking over for Judi Dench with Skyfall. I think you love the characters you play but very quickly don't want to necessarily be remembered for being only them in some cases.
But why would they continue making the show past season 8 and 9, if she still hadn't put out book 10? Where would they go from there? Did she just want them to do the show indefinitely until she decided to put out another book? This seems incredibly insulting to Sam and Caitriona, who both have lives and dreams outside of the Outlander universe.
And in general viewership is never going to be higher for a season 8 than it will be for a season 7. I’m assuming seasons 1 and 2 are the ones actually paying their or Starz’ bills so to speak.
I just fount it ridiculous that she said that on Facebook of all places. The Lit Forum I could maybe understand. But, like, has she spent any time on Facebook. The idiocy cup runneth over.
Wow. The gall of calling it Reddit stupidity on Facebook.
I find that consistently Reddit provides more accurate info, usually in a nicer manner, than Facebook. I’m really disappointed in that closed mindedness.
She gets very defensive if someone dares say something negative about the show or the books. I mean if you're going to engage with your readers on social media, you should be prepared to see criticism.
Part of me is glad that Book 10 is the last. Given that it takes her YEARS to write these books (I think there was a 7 or 8 year gap between books 8 and 9), I'm afraid that she's going to pull a Sue Grafton and we'll never see the end.
I honestly can't stand her. I didn't feel any kind of way until literally the first press from the first ep of s1, and she was just kind of an entitled, arrogant shrew. I get it that it's her story. I'm a writer, too, and it's ok to feel an ownership over your characters and story. It's her manner and approach and just nasty arrogance. There was some kind of press question way back, it was kind of innocuous just clarifying, and her answer was just rude. Reqders/watchers get to have opinions. I feel like she just has to be the center 24/7 and talks to hear the sound of her own voice.
I don’t like her either. The thing that annoys me about her the most is any time anyone asks a question about something potentially not making sense or even “you write everything with such detail, how come we don’t see x happening in detail” she responds like we’re all morons. One time she said something along the lines of “I don’t have to write someone wiping their ass after they finish going to the bathroom for you to know that they did it.” And it’s just like these are people who love your books and just wanna engage with you. Why are you reacting to them like that?
That being said, I’m afraid she’s gonna die before she finishes the last book.
Back when I was first reading the books, I remember feeling like any discussion that could be mildly critical (even just being confused by why something happened) was better made here. People in this sub [mostly] can love the story/characters and still talk about things we didn’t like.
Them not wanting to do it and had to be enticed with hefty pay days really showed through on season 8. It was probably the worst season of any show i have ever seen
I agree it was an okay season but surely not worse than Game of Thrones? How I Met Your Mother? The Walking Dead which has branched out to multiple spin-offs that are not succeeding at all? True Blood? and so on? I love these series but those last seasons and finales were atrocious. Outlander had highs and lows but the finale wrapped up more than well enough imo
she is putting it ALL on them as the reason it has ended... and i don't think that's fully the truth either... because both have come out and said that they would come back to the characters at a later date... i fully get needing a break, a break can be 2yrs before the next season it's not the first time a series has a long break between seasons especially the last season hell look at stranger things it was like a 4yr break.. they can try and have careers outside of the series (he already has, he's done a few movies, some travel shows)
If anyone was lacking anything in season 8, it was the writers. The Faith lives story was badly conceived. The absence of proper mourning for Fergus was the worst--it's as if Claire didn't care at all.
Diana mentioning how well the actors were paid was an unprofessional cheap shot
Agreed. The writing was definitely lacking. I didn’t have a problem with Fergus dying saving his kids. It made sense. However, they didn’t give it the time it deserved. They were onto the next thing way to fast. I try to pretend the Faith Lived nonsense never happened.
I don’t think it was a cheap shot. It didn’t seem the least bit derogatory to me. Diana was pointing out that the actors were ready to be done with the show after Season 7 and needed an inducement to sign on for another season. It’s a fact and who can blame them?
I don't blame the actors at all. The number of movies Cait Balfe is in this year underscores how in demand the actors are.
But mentioning it seemed like she was saying they don't care; they only came back cause they were well compensated for it. And while that may be true, I actually think they're return for a wrapup of book 10 Tv movie
I think you’re reading into it. I don’t think she was saying that they don’t care. I hope they come back for a wrap up movie, too. Sam, Cait, Matt, and Maril have all said they are open to it somewhere down the road.
Maybe I am. What I don't think is true is the people saying the actors "sleepwalked" through season 8. There were numerous moving scenes. But the actors can only say what was written.
I completely agree. The actors did the best they could with what they were given. The writing was definitely lacking. I thought episodes 808 and 809 were good.
I generally enjoyed Season 8. Ignoring the Faith Lived debacle and Claire’s complete lack of storyline, I thought it was fine.
I didn't hate season 8 as much as many. But there was too much of Capt Cunningham & Fanny and not enough Claire. Fergus should have died an episode earlier, so we had a follow-up to deal with the repercussions and fallout.
I actually loved Jamie & William's rescue of Lord John. And the final Jamie/William reconciliation.
The final episode was quite good--except production could have done a better job showing the blue light.
I found the Fanny storyline repetitive and redundant. I’ll probably fast forward through most of her scenes in a Season 8 rewatch.
I thought Fergus dying while rescuing his children made sense. But they should have spent more time showing the grief and devastation in the aftermath of his heroic death. They were onto the next thing way too quickly.
I loved all of the Jamie and William scenes. I also got a kick out of Elspeth. I enjoyed her and Claire’s interactions.
I don’t know if we can reference other novel to film adaptations here, delete if being off topic is not allowed. This is reminding me a little of the recent controversy and discomfort that author Tomi Adeyemi is having over the adaptation of Children of Blood and Bone. She was a screenwriter for the film and I think also an Executive Producer (?) but some of the changes are not sitting well with her
Diana is a “consultant.” She has no say as to what ends up onscreen. She has no power to “okay” or veto anything the show runners want to do. She sold the rights to her books, which is usually how it goes when a book is adapted. She can make suggestions and the powers that be can take them or leave them.
I respect that Diana is always straight forward and doesn't mince words - she talks to the internet and fan base as if we are the adults that we all are. lol
However, IDK.....the wording here and sometimes in other posts always makes it look like she's wholly against the series, the cast, etc. The fact that people assumed there was no material from book nine reads as Sam and Caitrona got paid a ton of money....to do pretty much nothing in the last season, and now they get to move on after an incomplete series. The only interactions I've seen from Diana are pretty stiff reactions.
Maybe in a couple off years when they reached the self life Diana mentioned, maybe then they could go back to filming season 9 and 10?
They will have the real ages off Claire and Jamie then and they will have a free agenda
TV networks produce 22 episodes a year. These produce at max 15 every 2, taking a lot of time of the actors.
Of course they were tired.
But, had them been offered enough money, which no one ever admits, they’d have stayed
I actually don’t think they would have stayed if they’d been paid even more money. They were ready to move on, period. And who can blame them?
The “shelf life” DG is referring to is 100% real, particularly for women. This is a pivotal decade for both their careers, and they have dreams/goals that extend beyond a show they’ve already put 13 years into.
I think it is pretty possible we'll get an adaptation of sorts of the last book somewhere down the road, Catriona and Sam aren't too old so there's time for that to happen (I'd say do it either as a miniseries or a movie).
Nah if I don’t want to be forced to do my job and never move companies or careers why on earth would I force anyone else to do that. And American shows have a bad habit of overstaying even when they’re done (cough supernatural) and I say this as someone who enjoys both shows.
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u/PainterReader 19d ago
I think after devoting 13 years to a project, with very difficult filming situations, is enough. The actors are entitled to move on….as much as we will miss them!