After a year long wait, Outlander only recently premiered Season 7 Part 2, in which Claire Randall and Jamie Fraser will go home and find that it’s not so sweet. Eighth season filming has been completed, and the Outlander: Blood Of My Blood spin off (in which Diana Gabaldon’s bodice-ripping universe franchise focuses upon Claire and Jamie’s parents getting it on) hasn’t received a Starz premiere date, but it’s coming. What else might be coming?
Once upon a time (back during the fourth season), a spin off about Lord John Grey (David Berry) was in the works at Starz but has since fallen off the radar. Deadline broached the subject with Berry, whose character keeps rocking that wig in upcoming episodes. The actor noted that he had previously “signed a contract to do a series,” and then “ultimately, at the time, it was decided that that wasn’t the right fit, or wasn’t the right thing for them.” Still, he notes, “I was prepared to do it, and I’m still prepared to do it.” Berry doesn’t spill too many of the inner workings of the prior decision, but his followup remarks suggest that Starz stopped being interested in a free-standing Grey story, and Outlander showrunners feel differently:
“Matt [B. Roberts] and Maril [Davis], executive producers on Outlander, have also expressed a lot of interest in doing it. So I guess it really depends on finding a network for it and audience interest in moving forward and doing a spin-off. But definitely, it was something that was on the cards at one point. The fact that it didn’t go ahead was very disappointing at the time. But whether or not it will go ahead again, that’s really in the hands of the audiences, and whether or not there is still an interest in seeing more from this character.”
In the words, no definitive answer exists, but it sounds like Starz hung up that spin off dream, although you never know, Netflix has been known to pick up those heavy-fanbase balls and run with them. The series still (probably) needs to finish up with Grey in a feasible place for a further story, and Starz hasn’t revealed an eighth season release date, which could very well be a year from now. Fingers crossed, and if fans want more Lord John Grey, they’d better make some noise for him.
(Via Deadline)