Will Outlander Season 8 Be Affected by the 2023 WGA Strike?
The short answer is yes, unfortunately.
The first half of Outlander Season 7 premieres on June 16, and the second half is currently in post-production, set to be released in 2024.
Season 8 is now in pre-production, and the filming is supposed to begin 'in a few months,' according to actress Caitríona Balfe, who plays Claire Fraser in the Starz series.
All of this sounds very good, but there is just one burning question on the minds of all fans — how will the Writers Guild of America strike, which began on May 2, affect Outlander's final season?
The 2023 WGA strike was initiated by the writers' union after they failed to reach an agreement with the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers (AMPTP) on the subjects of residuals from streaming and the use of artificial intelligence in their work. Many projects that are currently in pre-production or filming stages have already been canceled or paused, so the production of Outlander is also likely to be delayed.
All the writers working on Outlander are WGA members, and the only exception is Diana Gabaldon, the author of the novel series on which the show is based, who also wrote scripts for a few episodes. The show is produced by Sony Pictures Television, one of the companies represented by the AMPTP. So clearly, the Starz series is very much involved in the conflict.
This is also evidenced by a recent Instagram post by Barbara Stepansky, one of the series' writers, which shows her picketing with a few colleagues.
Even if the Outlander producers expected the strike and have managed to stockpile scripts for Season 8, the production process will most likely require the writers to do constant fixes and rewrites. The exact impact on the schedule depends on how quickly the conflict is resolved. At the moment, the show is in its natural pause before the production of the new season begins, but if the strike doesn't end within 'a few months,' the release date may be moved to 2025.
And even without the strike, new seasons of Outlander were taking longer and longer to produce. The hiatus between Seasons 4 and 5 was a year and three months, and two full years passed before Season 6 came out. Besides, Caitriona's assessment may be too optimistic to start with, so Season 8 might only be released in late 2025 or even 2026.
Source: Express.