Why Outlander, Starz, and Sony remain perfect partners

Is it possible that Outlander could ever leave Starz? In the wake of Ronald D. Moore’s next space series being developed at Apple, it of course yields to speculation from fans as to whether or not the show could be on the move there, as well. That speculation is pretty much empty — there’s no sign it will happen, and it also really shouldn’t happen. Outlander is precisely where it needs to be.

With that being said, let’s go through two of the frequent concerns we’ve heard about when it comes to Starz as of late.

1. Frustration over some of the awards snubs. We get it, and we’re just as annoyed about some of them as all of you. There’s no universe where Sam Heughan should be snubbed many years over for the Emmys and the Golden Globes. Yet, we do think that both Starz and the studio Sony did as good of a job as possible setting him up to be a possible nominee. Starz in general has promoted Outlander with a rather vast promotional tour and plenty of television appearances. Save for maybe Game of Thrones, The Walking Dead, and This Is Us, Outlander may have had a broader promotional campaign for season 3 than almost any other show on the air … at least of the ones we cover at CarterMatt. Sam’s performance was exceptional, but these snubs are mostly the result of voters making bonehead decisions and not names being put out there.

2. Frustration over the long wait for a season 5 renewal. You know we want it — we want it so much that we wrote a mock letter to Starz asking for it! The reality is that there’s still plenty of time for it to happen without fears of another extended Droughtlander coming up.

We know that Starz and Sony are in talks for more episodes. “Talks” typically means that a number of lawyers are in a room trying to figure things out. The reality of what’s going on there is probably even less exciting than whatever you are imagining in your head. Work is being done — or at least it was. Maybe it’s not two days before Christmas, but talks will resume.

Defending a network isn’t always our jam — we’ve been putting TNT on blast for weeks for what they’re doing with Major Crimes — but when they deserve the praise they get the praise. Starz has been a really great partner for Outlander and we hope that they’ll stay on board for the entirety of the run. (If for some reason the show ends in a few years, not that we expect that, maybe we’ll air some grievances then. We had to write “grievances” in at least one article given that today is Festivus.)

For now, keep enjoying and loving Outlander, and rest assured that Starz is showing all of the signs of confidence that you would hope to see from a network.

For more news?

Did you catch our piece earlier today about why we want a spoof of Outlander and many other shows on SNL? Check that out here!

Meanwhile, like CarterMatt on Facebook in the event you want to book more news all about Outlander whenever you want it. (Photo: Starz.)