‘Outlander’ season 2 debate: When’s the earliest it could premiere?

We know “Outlander” fans: The Droughtlander is still strong, and we are currently in some of the most difficult months. As filming continues for the second season, there is not too much in the way of information out there new when it comes to more news characters or sequences that you can expect. Sure, you can just go and read Dragonfly in Amber for some clues, but we imagine that many of you out there have already done that.

As we seek to answer the question here as to why season 2 could premiere in terms of when the earliest date could be, there is one simple thing you must remember: Starz does not tend to air more than one original series on a night. They also have tended to keep most of their programming these days on Saturdays. Maybe that will change once more and more of their series start to expand, but that is where we are right now.

To understand the premiere date for “Outlander,” you have to look first at the series that precedes it in “Black Sails.” The pirate drama has premiered the first two seasons of January 25 and January 24, so it is fair to guess that the season 3 premiere date will either be January 23, or they will go back later to January 30. It’s possible in theory they could try to move it up a week or two to January 16 or January 9, and we’ll go as far as to explain why this could be useful next.

Here’s where things get interesting: While season 1 of “Outlander” was 16 episodes, it was split into two separate halves. There was therefore not a time when it took up a long stretch of the Starz schedule. “Outlander” season 2, meanwhile, is 13 episodes, and our feeling is that they will air all in one batch. If you want to ensure that the premiere of “Power” season 3 does not get significantly delayed versus season 2, it may behoove Starz to put “Black Sails” earlier in January, and then air “Outlander” a little earlier, as well. If “Black Sails” premieres on January 9, the earliest “Outlander” could premiere is March 19. If “Black Sails” starts on January 23, the earliest is April 2.

One other thing that could make the scheduling even crazier is that Easter in 2016 is on March 27, and maybe Starz doesn’t want to air any new programming at all this weekend? They could either ensure “Black Sails” is over before March 26, or they could just take a weekend off and then resume it later.

It’s confusing trying to get into the head of a schedule-maker, but for now it is pretty fair to assume that March or April will fittingly be the spring that takes us out of this long “Outlander” winter.

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