Is Outlander season 4 progress impacted by season 5 status?

At the time in which we’re writing this (okay, maybe not literally, but you likely catch our drift) Outlander season 4 is being filmed. What makes this season a little bit different than season 3 is that for the entirety of that season’s production, everyone knew that the show would be coming back.

This time around for season 4, there is technically a little bit of ambiguity. A fifth season has not been ordered, and that makes this a little more similar to season 2. Not only did that entire season film before Outlander knew if it would be coming back, but the renewal for season 3 and 4 didn’t come until more than two-thirds into the season.

So is the show’s somewhat-uncertain future impacting what the show is doing for season — as in, are the writers having to plan as though it could be the end? It doesn’t sound like that is the path they are taking, based on what was said during the “About Last Night” Twitter event this week. (Check out the tweet below from the show’s official writers room.) They are just trying to make season 4 the best one that they possibly can. That makes sense — writers don’t have any control over what executives at Starz want to do, so instead they just try to focus on making the most entertaining show that they possibly can.

Now that we’ve said that, it probably also helps Outlander tremendously that the ratings are what they are. Maybe if the show was in extreme jeopardy someone at Starz would’ve clued in the writers that the end was near, but that’s not happening. There must be a comfort behind the scenes that a season 5 is almost certainly happening — the renewal hasn’t happened yet, but we stand by much of what we’ve said all season. It makes the most sense for Starz to renew the show by the end of the year — it’s both added publicity for them and also a show of faith to the fans. We should also note that a renewal probably needs to come before the spring if the show wants to keep something close to their same production timeline.

Consider the fact that the writers aren’t worried about the future to be a sign that you shouldn’t either. Provided that there’s not some sort of horrible shock like the numbers falling off a cliff, there’s going to be an an Outlander season 5 — beyond that, we’re pretty confident there will be a season 6 too. We just don’t anticipate a renewal coming for it anytime soon.

Want some more news regarding Outlander this weekend?

If you want to head over to the link here, you can see some CarterMatt analysis of one notable scene coming on Starz this weekend!

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