Outlander season 3: Sam Heughan’s birthday; Caitriona Balfe’s script photo

Before we dive any deeper into today’s Outlander story, let’s fire off a party cannon or two: It’s Sam Heughan’s birthday! We know that Sam’s pretty far from home thanks to filming the third season of the show in South Africa, but here’s to hoping that he has a great day and a chance to celebrate with many of his good friends within the show community.

If nothing else, we certainly know that there are plenty of people online who are wishing him a happy birthday. There is a lot that Sam has brought to the table with the show, with of course his acting talent being at the top of the list. Beyond that, he’s been essential in further establishing the show community, being supportive of his fans and fellow cast-mates, and creating a social consciousness around his work. Through his My Peak Challenge, he’s managed to help many fans have a healthier lifestyle while supporting a great cause in the charity Bloodwise.

If we had any whisky lying around, we’d raise a glass today in his honor!

As a means of further celebrating his birthday, be sure to check out the video below featuring Sam talking about his time at the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland. This is one that we haven’t shared previously, and it’s a little more personal in terms of hearing about him as an actor and how his education helped to improve his craft greatly. This is the sort of stuff that we’re always interested in personally as a reporter and an interviewer; you often get to hear about a character during a press tour, but rarely about the work from the actor and the experiences that they draw on to make it work. (We discussed some of this with Sam when we spoke with him following season 1.)

The finale script’s out there!

In other news, Caitriona Balfe has the finale script! This gives you a sense now as to where the actors are in production — regardless of if they are filming scenes for the finale right now, they can start to get prepared for that.

As for the finale title, we’ve got a good guess, but we’ll leave most of the speculation for you below. Sometimes it’s better not to explicitly say such things.

As always, be sure to share some of your thoughts on this story in the comments!

Meanwhile, head over here to get some more of the latest in terms of Outlander news. (Photo: Starz.)