The makers behind Outlander have revealed how they had to make some changes to one scene after a time travel oversight.
The Starz series features time travel, and while much has been left vague about how it works, there are a few things Diana Gabaldon has established as canon.
In Outlander, time travel is hereditary and so only some people possess this ability to traverse different eras.
Additionally, people can only time travel at certain points in the year such as Samhain and various equinoxes.
Another thing is gemstones can be used to aid travel, as well as blood sacrifices – as evidenced by Gillian Edgars/Geillis Duncan (played by Lotte Verbeek), who killed her husband in order to travel through time in Inverness.
Finally, the intended destination of a traveller is aided by them holding on tightly to a feeling of wherever they wish to be.
Back in season two, the show’s producers had to alter a scene in post-production which zoomed in on Claire Fraser’s (Caitríona Balfe) rings.
Appearing on the Outlander podcast, executive producer Ronald D. Moore said: “At the very beginning – way back at Craigh na Dun, her discovering that she lost the ring and trying to find the ring, and then realising the stone of the ring was gone – that was something we added much later in the process, well after the show was done for various story reasons of time travel that we needed to establish – that you will discover later.”
Moore’s words allude to the necessity of gemstones for safe passage through portals, something Claire only discovered later on after going through Geillis’ notes.
It appears the programme-makers only later realised Claire had to lose the gemstone from the ring Jamie (Sam Heughan) gave her, which once belonged to his father.
Season seven saw plenty of time travel with Roger MacKenzie (Richard Rankin) ending up 1739 after trying to find his son, whom he believed had been kidnapped by Rob Cameron (Chris Fulton).
While in this era, he stumbled across his father Jerry MacKenzie (Nicholas Ralph), who’d ended up in the past after his aircraft crash-landed.
Roger tried to help his father get back to his own time and in doing so hoped his parents would have survived, meaning he wouldn’t have been orphaned.
Sadly, given the track record of Outlander characters failing to change the course of history, Roger was unable to alter his father’s fate.
The final season of Outlander is likely to shed further light on how time travel works in this universe, given Master Raymond (Dominique Pinon) smuggled Claire Fraser’s stillborn infant to another time and saved her.
Moreover, questions about Jamie and how his ghost came to be in 1940s Inverness will finally be answered.
Outlander season 7 is available to buy now on Digital and is streaming on MGM+ via Prime Video now