Outlander notes: Season 4 filming, ratings milestones, and a surprise
Let’s start by capping off some of the ratings discussion we started earlier this week. It’s true that the show has set new ratings records for itself several weeks in a row. What is a little more of a surprise, however, is learning that this season is actually up a solid 40% in total live+same-day viewers versus the average for season 2. That’s not an improvement we would’ve predicted off the top of our head, mostly because we forget that there were some episodes in the middle of season 2 that had smaller viewership than the others.
Basically, what Starz should think about this is rather simple: It’s validation for them making the somewhat-risky move to program the show on Sunday nights for the first time, as they’ve done for the bulk of their other programming. We assumed that the change to a better night was going to lead to the show getting some more lucrative results, but were concerned that the presence of everything from football to other programming would hurt it. As it turns out, not so much.
The first week of season 4 is over – Consider this your latest big filming update! As Sam Heughan confirmed on Twitter earlier today the show has wrapped up their first week — it also seems as though the conditions in Scotland have not changed too much from the past, which shouldn’t come as much of a surprise to anyone. At this point, isn’t rain a big part of the charm?
Many of the cast members are now back to work, and over time more will probably pop in to the country. There are many important characters in the Diana Gabaldon book Drums of Autumn that serves as the inspiration for this season, and not all of them are going to be apparent right away.
A Caitriona Balfe surprise – Consider this a tease for something that could be a big story here at CarterMatt on Saturday — with there being no new episode airing on Starz tonight Balfe is promising that a surprise is going to be coming your way tomorrow.
Sound like it could be fun? It certainly does to us! The fact that there are “deets” certainly has us curious.
Want some other news related to Outlander?
One of the things that we’ve already reported on is that Ed Speleers and Maria Doyle Kennedy are joining the show in major roles! If you want to get some other news when it comes to their castings, head over here with some significant CarterMatt analysis.
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