Caitriona Balfe Believes ‘Outlander’ Won’t Suffer The Same Problems As ‘Game Of Thrones’

For those who are eagerly awaiting the next season of Starz’s Outlander, the actor who plays the main character, Claire Randall Fraser, has recently spoken out about how this series will not go the way of HBO’s hit series, Game of Thrones, according to Digital Spy.

As previously reported by The Inquisitr, many fans were unhappy with the way the final season of Game of Thrones ended. While some blamed the series showrunners, others blamed the fact that the HBO series had jumped well in front of its source material by the time the final season aired in 2019.

Game of Thrones was based on the A Song of Fire and Ice book series by George R. R. Martin. When HBO picked up the epic fantasy series, the book series was not complete. However, there was hope that the author would complete it before the network caught up. This did not happen and HBO entered into the uncharted territory of which may or may not end up being the same as what will ultimately happen in the books.

Outlander is also based on a series of books. The historical time travel series by Diana Gabaldon is also currently not complete. A ninth book in the series called Go Tell the Bees That I Am Gone has not yet been published. However, Caitriona Balfe, who plays Claire in the TV series, insists that Outlander will not end up like Game of Thrones when it comes to shooting ahead of its source material.

“Well, it is very different because Game of Thrones, I believe, past the books quite early on,” Balfe said.

“We’ve no chance to do that. Diana is about to release her ninth book. We’re only finishing season 5 so I don’t think we’re going to surpass Diana.”

Of course, the expectation was there that HBO would not catch up to Martin’s books either. Gabaldon did initially release a book every year or so at the start fo the series but has slowed down considerably later on. It has been six years since she published the eighth book in the series.

Balfe also confirmed that each season of the Starz adaptation of Outlander would follow each book in the series. This means that should the audience base remain strong and the network continues to renew it, the series could run for at least nine seasons.

Season 5 of Outlander will premiere on Starz on February 16 at 8 p.m. EST. A sixth season has already been confirmed by the network.