What Book Is 'Outlander' Season 3 Based On?

Everyone, I have good news. Outlander is finally back to Starz after an eternity of being away. (OK it was only about a year and half, but still!) But what book is Outlander Season 3 based on? If you've read ahead, you'll know that the book version of the third installment is called Voyager, and it changes the game for Jamie and Claire in so many ways. Warning: minor book spoilers ahead!

Let's go way, way, way back to the end of Season 2. Jamie and Claire said goodbye right before the Battle of Culloden. If you know anything about Scottish history, you'll know that this battle did not turn out awesome for the Scottish. Our two main stars knew that the likelihood of Jamie surviving this battle were slim to none, and with Claire pregnant, the best chance for her and the child's survival was for Claire to return to the 20th century. So Claire went back through the stones in one of the most gut-wrenching scenes I've ever seen on television (I literally cried the entire way through it) and landed back in the '40s to her very confused and stressed out husband Frank.

But that's not the end. Twenty years later, Claire, her daughter Brianna, and young Roger Wakefield discover that Jamie did not die in the battle, so Claire decides to go back to him. And that is where we pick up in Season 3.

In the book, Claire spends some time in Scotland with her daughter before heading back to the stones in a straight narrative format. But TVGuide reports that the show will reorder the sequence of events slightly. Executive producer Ron Moore said that, "The majority of the major events are in the season, but we are probably going to reorder them and present them slightly differently." The show will spend some time with Claire in the 20 odd years she spent in the 20th century raising her daughter and becoming a doctor before she reunites with Jamie. This means that viewers will probably have to sit through a few episodes of Jamie and Claire in separate timelines before they see each other again. (I know. I'm sorry.)

Entertainment Tonight reports that co-executive producer and writer Matthew B. Roberts has a specific reason for this torture. "If we got them together too soon, I think it would diminish the reunion because it's 20 years they're apart, and that longing, we have to make them earn it. Earn the coming together. And I promise it'll be really special." Well, Roberts, as long as you promise then I'm willing to wait.

And then, of course, Claire and Jamie will embark on a seaward adventure, which should be an exciting change of pace from the Scotland terrain fans have grown so accustomed to. So basically viewers have a lot to look forward to in Season 3, regardless of whether you're familiar with the books or not.

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