The new time travel series “Outlander” has been picked up by Shaw Media and will be aired on Showcase.
Set to begin production on the first 16 episodes in Scotland this fall, the series will star Sam Heughan (“Batman Live”) and Tobias Menzies (“Game of Thrones”). The show is based on Diana Gabaldon’s international best-selling books.
“Outlander” follows Jamie Fraser (played by Heughan), who strikes up a passionate affair with Claire Randall, a married combat nurse from 1945 who is mysteriously swept back in time to 1743. Armed with sheer grit and enduring strength, he is a strapping young Scottish clan lord with a complicated past and a disarming sense of humor. He is intelligent, principled, and, by 18th century standards, educated and worldly, with a tenderness and compassion that stands out in contrast to his contemporaries. A natural leader of men, he has no political ambitions or desire for battlefield glories. Instead, he wishes to remove the price on his head and return to his family’s ancestral farm.
“’Outlander’ has all the markings of a perfect dramatic series and we’re thrilled to be bringing the phenomenon to Showcase. The series will captivate television audiences as it has done with its series of novels,” said Barbara Williams, Senior Vice President of Content at Shaw Media, in a press release.
Added Emmy Award-winning executive director Ronald D. Moore, “From the very beginning, I knew the part of Jamie Fraser would be difficult to cast. I had no one in mind for the part. I knew that someone would just come into the audition and be Jamie Fraser. And that’s what Sam did.”
Photo: David Livingston/WENN
