‘Outlander’ Season 6 Spoilers: Caitriona Balfe Warns Of Claire’s ‘Difficult’ Recovery

Sunday’s “Outlander” Season 5 finale ended with Claire holding her head high, acknowledging that she’s a survivor. However, that’s not the end of her trauma. Caitriona Balfe warned that her character will still be dealing with the aftermath of her brutal rape in Season 6 of the Starz drama.

“I enjoyed reading book six. It's probably much easier to adapt than five was,” Balfe told Elle. “For Claire, this is going to be an ongoing journey of recovery. She will probably try to plow on and get back to normality, but I don't think she's fully aware of just how difficult, subconsciously and psychologically, that's going to be for her.”

“Outlander” Season 5 was mostly adapting Diana Gabaldon’s fifth book in the time travel series, “The Fiery Cross.” However, parts of the sixth, “A Breath of Snow and Ashes” were included in this season. Claire’s rape was one of the key moments that moved up.

“In book five, there isn't a whole [lot] of Claire in comparison to the other books. Her story is on the back burner a bit,” the Irish actress explained. “I think this is part of the reason Matt [Roberts, executive producer] and Maril [Davis, executive producer] decided to pull this storyline from book six. It's a double-edged sword because of course, we want great material and something that really challenges you, but it's really tough stuff and not something you relish doing or going through, especially when you're so protective of your character.”

READ: Did You Catch All The ‘Outlander’ Finale Easter Eggs?

Executive producer Matt Roberts told Deadline that Season 6 is only intended to cover Gabaldon’s sixth novel—at least for now. “But, as in seasons past, we always look ahead and behind to see if there’s any way to add in something we’ve missed or bring up a future bit that may be appropriate to the upcoming season,” he noted.

As of Season 5, Balfe is also an “Outlander” executive producer, and that means she gets more of a say in what’s happening on the show. She revealed that she very much wants to explore Claire’s rocky healing process.

“What I'm interested in is how we continue on from this and explore her recovery, because that's incredibly important,” Balfe said.

“Outlander” Season 6 was supposed to start shooting about now, but with everything on hold, it’s unclear when they will get back to set. However, the writers room has been at work since last fall trying to get the scripts ready. Balfe said she’d read the first two complete episodes, which indicate another “strong season.”