Why is Outlander season 3 being secretive with Jamie, Claire’s voyage?

There are certainly many Outlander season 3 previews out there, and all you have to do in order to see some is look around the internet. There’s been a teaser, a full trailer, and a behind-the-scenes featurette revealed over the past few months, with all of them leading up to the show’s September 10 premiere on Starz.

We’ve covered many of these subjects rather extensively — as a matter of fact, we even wrote about the viewership numbers for these videos yesterday! One of our goals with this article is to pivot to what hasn’t really been seen much in any of the season 3 footage: Jamie and Claire’s voyage to Jamaica. It is a huge component in the Diana Gabaldon novel Voyager, just as it also constituted a big percentage of season 3 filming. Caitriona Balfe, Sam Heughan, and many members of the show’s crew were off working in South Africa for months earlier this year, and very little footage from that work has arrived online.

What’s the reasoning for that, especially with it being a huge part of the second half of the season? We’ve of course done our part to figure that out.

1. The fear of spoilers – It’s hard, as someone in the internet age, to think that there are viewers out there of Outlander unfamiliar with the books. Even with us not being a book reader, we still know the circumstances surrounding the trip of Claire and Jamie to Jamaica and the general events that are going to unfold as a result.

Yet, there are still some out there who don’t know the full story of Claire and Jamie, and the idea for Starz seems to be trying to keep as much of the story following the Print Shop scene a secret as possible. Even though they may have shared behind-the-scenes photos of the cast in South Africa on Twitter already, not everyone uses social media — plus, there’s a difference between showing a picture and giving actual footage from the show.

2. Timing – The first half of season 3 was filmed in Scotland many months ago, and there’s been way more time to get some of that footage together than there would be the content filmed in South Africa. They may need more time to perfect some of these later episodes behind the scenes. Just because filming is complete doesn’t necessarily mean that every aspect of post-production is, as well.

3. Waiting for another trailer – It wouldn’t surprise us that at some point during season 3, in particular after the Print Shop reunion, Starz releases a trailer for the second half of the season featuring much of this footage. That provides a second opportunity to hype up this story, which is great given that there is so much here worthy of illuminating. Visually, it should be such a feast for the eyes and different than anything else that has been presented to date. It may attract more viewers in its own right.

Why do you think Outlander has kept much of the Jamie/Claire at sea footage under wraps? Share in the comments!

Also, be sure to visit this link in the event you are interested in retrieving some further insight on the show! (Photo: Starz.)