‘Outlander’ Star Sam Heughan Says Season 3 Will Be ‘A Completely Different Show’

“Outlander” fans are in for more changes. Star Sam Heughan said the drama will feel like a new show when it returns to Starz next year.

“It’s going to be a completely different show,” Heughan told Vulture. “Next year’s stuff is probably the most interesting, in a way. We’ve been setting it up, setting the stage, introducing these characters, and now it goes into new, different worlds.”

That isn’t too surprising to hear. After all, the Season 2 finale skipped ahead 20 years. Claire (Caitriona Balfe) was in Scotland in 1968 with her daughter Brianna (Sophie Skelton), but once she realized that Jamie (Heughan) didn’t die at the Battle of Culloden, she determined she had to go back.

However, Season 3 (which is based on Diana Gabaldon’s “Voyager”) will leave Europe as the characters head to Jamaica. Though Heughan would love to leave the Scotland-based production to film on location, producer Maril Davis said that no decisions have been made about that yet. “They go to Jamaica, there’s stuff that happens on ships, and the production challenges of that will also test our abilities,” she told Entertainment Tonight. “But I would say so far I’m really excited about what we're doing and coming up with.”

Regardless of where they shoot, Heughan is excited for all the changes. He previously teased that Jamie will be different in “Outlander” Season 3. “We won’t actually see what happens to Jamie after she’s gone through the stones until the next season – for me that’s a really big question and something that will be really interesting to look at: who is Jamie without Claire, why is he still surviving or what has he got to live for when he’s lost the woman that he loves?” he told Variety. “She will eventually return, but they’re both older, so who is the man he’s become age-wise, physically? I think that’s the joy of the show, it’s never the same thing, it’s constantly moving, so next season should be quite an adventure.”

It seems many fans online are less worried about Jamie’s personal growth and more concerned about his physical appearance. The show aged Caitriona Balfe to make Claire look older, but they’re still waiting to see what Jamie looks like. Though Heughan joked about getting fat for the new season, he reminded fans that the look isn’t that important. “It’s less about his appearance, and more about who he is without Claire,” he warned.

“Outlander” Season 3 will return to Starz next year.