Outlander notes: Caitriona Balfe’s new project; SDCC fan panel

We’re going to start today’s Outlander notes by actually shifting away for a moment from the Starz series, and focusing instead on something that traces back so many years into the past. We’re talking here in particular about The Dark Crystal, a project from the mind of Jim Henson that existed long before Outlander was a TV series. There is a new version coming to Netflix on August 30 (technically entitled The Dark Crystal: Age of Resistance), and it just so happens to feature Caitriona Balfe in the voice cast!

If you look HERE, you can get a pretty fantastic sense of some of what is coming within this series via the trailer. It’s a wonderous world with great animation, and it hopefully does feel like a nice homage to the original.

What we can absolutely say without question is that this is one of the best casts out there. Taron Egerton, Anya Taylor-Joy and Nathalie Emmanuel are playing the lead roles, and some of the rest of the voice cast includes the likes of Natalie Dormer, Eddie Izzard, Theo James, Toby Jones, Shazad Latif, Gugu Mbatha-Raw, Mark Strong and Alicia Vikander, Mark Hamill, Harvey Fierstein, Ralph Ineson, Jason Isaacs, Keegan-Michael Key, Olafur Darri Olafsson, Simon Pegg and Andy Samberg. Basically, a lot of awesome, wonderful people with rather recognizable voices.

Why cast so many famous people in the first place? A lot of it has to do with multi-generational appeal. The story itself could appeal to younger viewers, even if they aren’t familiar with the original; meanwhile, the voice cast should appeal to older viewers even if they aren’t the particularly nostalgic sort.

Meanwhile, a new fan panel at SDCC

Regardless of whether or not Outlander appears at San Diego Comic-Con later this summer (we think it’s doubtful, given that season 5 production is currently underway), you are going to have a chance to see another fan panel take place at the convention!

For some more information all about this year’s panelists (who include a number of notable people from the community), head over to Outlander TV News. There is no official news as to a venue or time for the panel just yet, but note that SDCC this year runs from July 17 until the 21st. With Outlander likely remaining on hiatus until 2020, this is probably one of the best opportunities out there to actually congregate and spend a little bit of time with some other fans of the series on the West Coast. We know that there are some other conventions coming later this year, as well, but with a different production timeline this year it’s certainly not the same convention environment than we’ve seen in the past.

Keep your eyes peeled, as there will be certainly more updates later this summer.

Photo: Starz