The coronavirus pandemic swiftly put a halt to production on TV and movie sets across the globe in 2020. Now, fans of Starz’s Outlander are wondering how this virus will further affect those scenes in the historical drama series that have become synonymous with the program.
You know, the ones.
Those sexy scenes where there is a considerable amount of nudity and, quite often, involve Jamie (Sam Heughan) and Claire (Caitriona Balfe).
Well, have no fear, the series’ executive producer has gone on the record detailing how they will handle those scenes moving forward in Season 6 of Outlander.
“I didn’t want me or the staff changing what the story is for COVID,” Matthew B. Roberts told Elle recently. “We have a lot of intimate scenes—that’s where we live and breathe.”
Outlander contains a large enough portion of intimate scenes that fans would be disappointed should Season 6 drop these moments because of the coronavirus pandemic. However, the safety of everyone involved was also paramount.
Filming Outlander in the time of the coronavirus pandemic
Initially, scripts were written according to how they would have been done were it any other year prior to 2020. The scripts then went to U.K. producer Guy Tannahill and Outlander production designer, Mike Gunn. They, along with others who have been on board with the TV series for quite some time, looked over the scripts and made adjustments where required regarding safety.
However, it still left some scenes that were particularly intimate and a decision had to be made.
After much consideration, Roberts decided to stay true to previous seasons of Outlander.
“The solution was relatively obvious: ‘testing, testing, testing, testing,'” he said. “We had to figure out how to make sure we tested everybody a million times before they walked onto set and keep that bubble as safe as possible. That was our main focus—making sure everybody feels safe walking onto a set in the studios and locations.”
With many other networks resuming work on their productions as well, it is now becoming the norm to get tested on a regular basis. So, it comes as no surprise that this will occur on Outlander as well.
Production has officially started on Season 6 of Outlander
Starz made the announcement only a few hours ago that production had just begun on Season 6 of Outlander. This means that information regarding what will happen to Claire, Jamie, and the other much-loved characters will likely start to trickle through.
Already, book fans are ready to see how the network will interpret what happens in the popular series by Diana Gabaldon. But, for those who prefer to wait for the TV series, it has been a long time coming in order to find out where Roger (Richard Rankin) and Brianna (Sophie Skelton) ended up after they decided to use the stones to return to the present time.
However, as of yet, no official announcement has been made regarding when Season 6 will premiere.
Season 6 of Outlander will air on the Starz network at a later date.