Her co-star Sam Heughan, who plays her on-screen lover Jamie, sits beside her in their on-screen home, complete with dingy lighting and time-accurate possessions.<\/p>\n
Heughan is wearing an 18th-century, historically accurate Scottish quilt. His golden hair is tied into a low ponytail, his tanned knees peeking out from the tops of his leather black boots. <\/p>\n
Sam Heughan (Jamie) and Caitriona Balfe (Claire) are preparing to say goodbye to Outlander after more than 10 years. <\/p>\n
Balfe meanwhile, sits with streaks of grey running through her dark hair (thanks to the hair and makeup team); her blue shirt resting comfortably over a corseted dress. <\/p>\n
The pair have 10 minutes before they return to set to shoot a scene for the final season of the Golden Globe-nominated show.<\/p>\n
Outlander is part historical fiction, part action\/adventure, part romance and has a little time-travel sprinkled in for good measure. <\/p>\n
The series, based on Diana Gabaldon\u2019s book series of the same name, has earned a large following during more than a decade on screen. The show has a 90% Rotten Tomatoes rating and is considered an international cultural phenomenon.<\/p>\n
Now, much to fans\u2019 upset, it is drawing to an end. And it has left the two lead actors feeling nostalgic.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019ve always been grateful and we\u2019ve always realised what an amazing, special thing this has been, but it sort of really hits you, that this does not happen very often,\u201d Balfe says. <\/p>\n
\u201cTo have a show that goes this long and how amazing it\u2019s been and to realise that we\u2019ve got people in our crew and everything that\u2019ve been with us from day one; it\u2019s really been such a crazy quarter of our lives.\u201d<\/p>\n
The on-screen couple have a rapport that comes from years of friendship. <\/p>\n
Unlike past seasons in which the storyline loosely followed that of the books, this season is based on a combination of storylines from the eighth, ninth and as-yet-unpublished 10th books in Gabaldon\u2019s series.<\/p>\n
Fans have questions about what to expect, but before we journalists can ask what challenges the couple will navigate in the final season, the duo quickly take the conversation somewhere else, somewhere closer to home for Kiwi fans.<\/p>\n
\u201cAt the beginning, there were conversations about shooting this in New Zealand,\u201d Heughan reveals.<\/p>\n
Before filming the first season in 2014, the show scouted multiple locations, including New Zealand. However, the decision was ultimately made to set up production in Scotland.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think they rightly made the choice to shoot here,\u201d Heughan says. \u201cI think Scotland has been a huge character of the show and I think the craftsmen and the crew have been exceptional. <\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019ve trained so many new people. We\u2019ve built a studio… there were no studios in Scotland and now there are multiple. We have amazing workshops here. It\u2019s been incredible for Scotland.\u201d<\/p>\n
Watch the trailer for Outlander\u2019s final season here:<\/p>\n
When viewers last saw Jamie and Claire, it was under tense conditions. Claire had been shot and was fighting for her life, resulting in a concerned Jamie.<\/p>\n
With a publicist close by, the pair are careful not to reveal any spoilers so instead, they tiptoe around the truth. \u201cJamie nurses Claire back to health,\u201d Heughan says slightly hesitantly, before his co-star steps in.<\/p>\n
\u201cWell,\u201d Balfe chuckles. \u201cHe calls in some other people who know what they\u2019re doing.\u201d<\/p>\n
How will Briana and Rodger, Jamie, Claire and young Ian end their story in the upcoming season of Outlander?<\/p>\n
Heughan and Balfe have a rapport that can only come from years of friendship or, in their case, playing onscreen lovers. They say it has been interesting to watch their characters\u2019 love story evolve over the years.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe met this couple who got married before they even knew each other and it was the first throes of passion. It was all very fiery,\u201d Balfe says. <\/p>\n
\u201cBut it was a real power struggle within the relationship because they didn\u2019t know each other and they were trying to find their footing in where they could balance with each other.\u201d<\/p>\n
Balfe is direct when she says fans will notice neither Jamie nor Claire are any less stubborn or feisty in the latest episodes than they were in the first. However, they are softer.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt just wouldn\u2019t be honest if we didn\u2019t find a new way of portraying them.\u201d<\/p>\n
Watch the final season of Outlander on Neon from May 7.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Her co-star Sam Heughan, who plays her on-screen lover Jamie, sits beside her in their on-screen home, complete…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":310833,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[29],"tags":[19272,20388,4058,13845,156,194,111,139,69,29594,21501,6926,9095,418,4059,5436,1961,437,1455],"class_list":["post-310832","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-tv","tag-19272","tag-connection","tag-contains","tag-eight","tag-entertainment","tag-kiwi","tag-new-zealand","tag-newzealand","tag-nz","tag-outlander","tag-reveal","tag-season","tag-secret","tag-shows","tag-spoilers","tag-stars","tag-this","tag-tv","tag-warning"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/310832","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=310832"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/310832\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/310833"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=310832"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=310832"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=310832"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}