‘Outlander’ Season 5 Premiere: How Sam Heughan And Caitriona Balfe Were Promoted

“Outlander” stars Caitriona Balfe and Sam Heughan have been with the series since the beginning, but they have new roles in Season 5. While they still play Jamie and Claire onscreen, they’re also working behind the camera as producers.

When Starz announced “Outlander” Season 5, it was revealed that Heughan and Balfe had negotiated a promotion to producers. This can mean a lot of things on different sets, but for Heughan and Balfe, it seems they’re getting more say in everything happening on set in Scotland.

“It’s been a really wonderful part of the process to be involved more and to have a say, and I think we would like to do a lot more,” Heughan told Entertainment Tonight.

Heughan revealed that they’re able to influence the character arcs viewers see as well as day-to-day operations on set. “It's important to have that sort of collaboration and influence,” Heughan added. "I think the scripts and the storyline -- we definitely had an influence there. And also being a part of the production meetings and just seeing all the work that goes into it, you know, I think we're a lot more educated as well.”

Balfe also emphasized that there was a learning curve. However, she thinks they’ll be more confident in “Outlander” Season 6.

“I think this season was a lot of learning and observing and I think it's a new role for both of us and I think it's one that we take very seriously,” Balfe added. “We came on sort of late into the process when we sort of got that role, so we’ve been doing our best to see where we can be the most helpful. I think towards the end of the season, I think we definitely found our feet with that role a bit more and, hopefully, coming into this next season as well, we'll sort of continue to expand.”

The Irish actress also noted that while she wanted to make sure she was useful, like any newly promoted employee, she didn’t want to step on any toes either.

“Well, I think this year, we really became producers very late in the day, sort of right before we started filming,” she explained to Parade. “For me, it’s very important that this isn’t just a vanity title, but I also didn’t want to like wade in there and be like, ‘Hey, guys, I’m a producer now.’ I wanted to learn, and I think that’s been the most gratifying part about it, is just being able to sit in on all the production meetings, see how it’s run, and where we can be of benefit. I’m hoping that we continue to expand it going into this season.”

“Outlander” Season 5 premieres Sunday on Starz.