For some fans of Diana Gabaldon’s “Outlander” books, the release of each season of Starz’s adaptation has been excruciatingly slow. 

The first episode of the time-travel, historical romance debuted in August 2014. Nearly 12 years later, we finally have the first episode of Season 8, which also happens to be the final season. 

(OK, I’m the one who has found the wait excruciating. I’m a ‘90s kid—I grew up on new seasons of television releasing annually, every fall. Cable television pacing just does not work for me.)

Despite the almost three-year gap between the start of Season 7 and Season 8, the latest season of “Outlander” opened with remarkable viewership numbers on March 6. Starz reported that 2.92 million viewers tuned in or signed on to watch the season premiere, its largest audience in four years. These numbers put the last season of “Outlander” in line with—and in some cases ahead of—other major cable dramas such as Showtime’s “Yellowjackets” and AMC’s latest “The Walking Dead” spinoff. 

While comparing viewership numbers can be a little tricky in the streaming era, the bigger picture is clear: “Outlander” remains one of premium cable’s most reliable performers. 

And that’s why it’s time for Starz to turn its attention to Lord John Grey. 

The network has already launched one spinoff series, “Outlander: Blood of My Blood,” which received a second-season renewal before it even premiered in August 2025. Starz has yet to announce a premiere date for Season 2. 

It’s not a direct adaptation of any one book in particular, but is instead inspired by the characters created by Gabaldon.

“Blood of My Blood” tells the stories of the parents of both lead roles in the original series, Jamie Fraser (Sam Heughan) and Claire Beauchamp (Caitriona Balfe). Harriet Slater and Jamie Roy play Ellen MacKenzie and Brian Fraser, the 18th century Scottish parents of Jamie. Hermoine Corfield and Jeremy Irvine portray Julia Moriston and Henry Beauchamp, Claire’s parents, who fall in love during World War I in England. 

But Gabaldon has actually written a spinoff series of books and novellas focusing on Lord John Grey, played by David Berry in the main series. 

A little background: Lord John Grey is a British officer who is governor of a prison where Jamie Fraser and other captured Jacobites are kept after their defeat at the Battle of Culloden. The two men form a strained friendship during their time at the prison, though John, who is queer, forms an unrequited attraction to Jamie. 

Through various circumstances, the two men remain friends over the decades, even as Jamie and Claire’s story shifts to the American colonies ahead of the Revolution. In a twist of fate, John becomes the de facto father of Jamie’s secret son. 

John makes his first appearance as a teenager in the second “Outlander” book, “Dragonfly in Amber,” but is fully actualized in the third novel, “Voyager.” Gabaldon further expands his story across three novels and six novellas focusing entirely on him. 

The Lord John Grey books and novellas don’t center romance the way the primary “Outlander” series does—they’re mostly mysteries—but that may be exactly what a screen adaptation needs. As we know, “Outlander” has a rabid fandom, and over the years, John has come to be a much-beloved character. 

The creators of the “Outlander” show have discussed the possibility of a Lord John Grey television spinoff for years—at least as far back as Season 4, in 2018-2019. Berry, in an interview with Deadline in 2024, said he even signed a contract to do the series at one point and a writer had been attached. 

“It went down to the wire of whether or not it would get approved by the network, but ultimately, at the time, it was decided that that wasn’t the right fit, or wasn’t the right thing for them,” he said. 

Berry said at the time he was very much still interested in pursuing a spinoff, and in an interview earlier this month with TVLine, he—very cagily—said there’s still the potential. 

Executive producers Maril Davis and Matthew B. Roberts seemed slightly more certain about it. 

“I’m just going to come out and say it,” she told the TVLine reporter at the premiere of Season 8. “Yes. Listen, we’ve been thinking about this for a while, and we’d love to make it happen. And David would love to do it. It’d be fun. Yes.”

“All the fans want more,” Roberts added. 

And with a growing interest in queer stories and queer romance in particular, the time is right to re-open the book on Lord John Grey and tell his story on screen. 

About the writer

Danielle Haynes is the co-founder and co-editor of Booked & Screened, covering book-to-screen adaptations, film and TV development. She is not prepared to watch Season 8 of “Outlander,” which adapts the only book that has ever made her audibly sob.