Outlander season 4 character questions: The fascinating future of Claire Fraser
Below, CarterMatt has included five different questions we would love to see answered over the course of the upcoming season pertaining to Caitriona Balfe’s character — remember that this speculation is merely that. We’re not a book reader and therefore don’t have any insight on what’s coming up or not coming up on the show. These are the thoughts of a show viewer seeing Claire through the lens presented by Ronald D. Moore and the writing team.
1. How will Claire settle in? – Think about where Claire started off in season 1 with Frank. After that, she traveled into 18th-century Scotland and was hardly stable there. She traveled frequently, whether it be to Lallybroch or France or eventually back to Scotland. She then went back to the future, then to America, and then back to Scotland and again into the past. Do we need to spell this out further? The truth here is that Claire is nomadic; she’s been that way since the start of the show. We know that she and Jamie are heading towards more of a stable home in season 4, but will she be happy with that? She did have that somewhat with Frank in Boston for years so we know she’s capable of being sedentary. The one concern is that so much of her life with Jamie is predicated on adventure and travel; will she be able to handle being in the same place for a long time?
2. Can we learn more of her past? – We’d love to see the series shine more light on her backstory even before the pilot episode. Claire is not someone who was just your ordinary young woman before traveling through the stones. She had a very rich history with a lot of life experiences — some good, some bad. We’d appreciate learning more about how those experiences inform who she is now.
3. Will she see Brianna again? – Book spoilers aside, creatively the idea of getting Bree back into the past with Jamie is going to be too much for the writers to pass up. Will she be happy to see her there, and if Bree comes what will the family’s future look like? You want to imagine that they’ll be happy and love every second of their lives, but there are going to be complications. There almost always are.
4. How much more of the future does she bring into the past? – Given that Jamie and Claire are in America at the precipice of the American Revolution, how much will Claire play into that? Her knowledge of US history is likely immense after living there for years with Frank and we remain constantly curious on how concerned she is over the timeline and potentially messing with that. Her story is different from many other time-travel epics given that she’s not someone as concerned with going back to the present.
5. Can she be a purveyor of social change? – Whatever sort of sexism Claire faced as a doctor in the 1960’s is going to be a fraction of what she likely faces in the 18th century. Will she be revered enough for her skills to change the perception about professional women, or will she find herself again ostracized and/or treated like a witch as she was elsewhere? The treatment of Claire for her skills is a reflection on where society was at that time and, in some ways, how some are not able to look away from the gift of medicine.
Remember that Outlander season 4 premieres in 2018 — of course, we’ll have more news pretty much every day until it launches!
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You can check out our first piece featuring Murtagh Fraser over here; meanwhile, be sure to also check out what we had to say about Roger! For more Outlander news to be viewed whenever you want it, be sure to like CarterMatt on Facebook! (Photo: Starz.)