Outlander season 5 and the great episode-count discussion
New Outlander video – Check out some of our thoughts regarding the future of the show in our video at the bottom of this article! Also, be sure to subscribe to CarterMatt on YouTube so you don’t miss out on our weekly Outlander videos (they will continue throughout the Droughtlander) and be sure to visit our playlist.
Within this piece, we want to start with a debate all about the show’s episode count, something that we certainly know is a point of contention for many out there. Because of the dense nature of the Diana Gabaldon books, there are a number of things that end up being cut from page to screen. The luxury of writing a book is that there is no limitation to precisely how long the story can go – you get to just tell it until it comes to it’s natural end. However, the issue that comes with writing a television show is that you’ve got a limited time window in every episode, and then a limited number of episodes.
The challenge moving forward is that we’re going to be getting fewer episodes per season than ever before. Seasons 5 and 6 of Outlander are only going to be twelve episodes each, which is the smallest count for an individual season of the show to date. Why the deduction? It could be for production reasons, or it could be to just give the cast and crew a little more time off.
On paper, it would be easy to sit here and say that Outlander should be doing 18-22 episode seasons, mostly because there are other shows like NCIS and Grey’s Anatomy that do even more episodes than that. Yet, there are some things to consider here. For starters, it takes significantly longer for production to film an episode of Outlander than it does an episode of either of these shows. It also has more complicated shoots that include traveling to different locations and some extremely long hours. There are night shoots sometimes and the schedule can be really taxing. A show like Outlander films for about as long as a network show with 22 episodes, but it produces fewer episodes in the end. The difference is made up slightly by the fact that Outlander episodes are typically 15 or so minutes longer.
So could Starz order more episodes a season? In theory, sure, but it would also mean far longer droughts between seasons and also a much more exhausted cast. We imagine that because of that, there will be more cuts coming from the source material next season. With that in mind our advice is to picture the show as capturing the spirit of the books, but look at it through it’s own lens. It may harken back to some of the feelings that you had when reading the source material, but it’s never going to deliver the same exact thing. It may be a similar and wonderful experience, but it’s also a separate one.
Our heart goes out to the writers (which actually includes our CarterMatt co-owner Jessica’s cousin Megan on the Outlander writing staff this season) — telling the story of full books in less time will be tricky, but we’re sure that they are up for the challenge.
Related News – Could a cast member direct an episode in the future?
What do you think about Outlander season 5 being 12 episodes long? Be sure to share in the comments, and then stay tuned for some more news. (Photo: Starz.)