Outlander season 4: One of the larger production challenges

Outlander season 4 photo

We do personally love it when something takes us by surprise — and we felt that a little bit earlier today courtesy of Outlander executive producer Matthew B. Roberts.

When it comes to thinking about what one of the biggest production challenges could be this season, the first thing we would’ve imagined as a challenge was trying to just find locations that would serve as worthy doubles for North Carolina. There are parts of Scotland that don’t look like the state much at all — yet, there are also parts of it that can mirror it very well! That’s a testament to the sheer geographical diversity of the region.

Per Roberts, one of the biggest challenges of presenting Scotland as America isn’t just the terrain — it’s getting the buildings right. For starters, having to do so much building for this season is probably a challenge since you can’t rely as much on re-built structures in Scotland. That was much easier to do in the first two seasons when there are already buildings around that have been there for centuries. Here, the challenge is making buildings that accurately reflect the time and the culture in 18th-century America. This is a very tough thing to do since there are a certain demographic of people who will be quick to point out even the most minute mistake that they see. Therefore, you have to get things right both from both a structural and historical perspective to try to keep some of that criticism at bay. Ideally, you just want people to be immersed in the story so much that they turn that part of their brain off. It’s not always possible, but you hope that it is.

One of the things we’re the most curious about when it comes to the production of season 4 is this: Are they going to be able to use many of these same North Carolina sets again for season 5? Jamie and Claire have a pretty long story to come in America and we like to think that this could make production a little bit easier next season. (Speaking of next season, check out the video below to get our recent take on Outlander and its renewal odds over at Starz.)

We’re excited to get some official looks at some of these season 4 sets in the future — we know that there are unofficial images sprinkled out there in the internet but many of them don’t really do the world that has been created justice.

Related Check out our most-recent Outlander piece about Duncan Innes and the future of that character now!

Is there anything that you want to see in terms of Outlander season 4 sets? Share right now in the comments!

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