The Outlander book series by Diana Gabaldon is the inspiration behind the epic Starz TV show but which novels are the source of which season?
The Outlander book series is an epic nine-novel story that serves as the source material for the popular Starz show of the same name and, for the most part, the seasons faithfully adapt the books in order. Author Diana Gabaldon wrote the first novel in the series, Outlander, in 1991. The following eight books were released over the next 20 years, with the longest pause between publishing being between book eight, Written in My Own Heart’s Blood (2014), and book nine, Go Tell the Bees That I Am Gone (2021). The Outlander series also includes spinoff novellas, graphic novels, and audiobooks.
The TV adaptation premiered on August 9, 2014, and led to seven more seasons, with season 8 of Outlander on the way. The show, like the novels, follows Claire Fraser (Caitríona Balfe) a British WWII nurse who is transported back in time to Scotland in 1743. From there, she participates in rebellions, travels the world, and falls in love. Gabaldon is a paid consultant on the series making for a very faithful adaptation (via AZ Central). Each season of Outlander corresponds roughly with one novel, but later seasons draw from multiple books with some novel elements changed for television.
| Outlander Season | Corresponding Novel(s) |
|---|---|
| Season 1 | Outlander |
| Season 2 | Dragonfly In Amber |
| Season 3 | Voyager |
| Season 4 | Drums Of Autumn |
| Season 5 | The Fiery Cross, A Breath Of Snow And Ashes |
| Season 6 | A Breath Of Snow And Ashes |
| Season 7 | A Breath Of Snow And Ashes, An Echo In The Bone, Written In My Own Heart’s Blood |
| Season 8 | Go Tell The Bees That I Am Gone |
Season 1
Outlander
The first season of Outlander follows the first novel very closely. Both begin with Claire and her husband Frank (Tobias Menzies) vacationing in Scotland in 1945. However, in the book, Claire goes through the time stones on May 1, the festival of Beltane, a May Day festival.
In the show, Claire time travels on November 1, the festival of Samhain, a date which better coincides with when the series was filmed. Other than that and some smaller character changes, like Rupert and Angus becoming more significant comic relief characters, and added storylines like Tammas the sick child, Outlander season 1 starts and ends where the novel does.
Season 2
Dragonfly In Amber
Season 2 of Outlander follows the second book in the series, Dragonfly in Amber, very closely. Both open on a flash-forward scene, but in the book, the scene takes place far in the future with Claire in 1968. The series makes a wise choice to set that flash-forward in the 1940s, just as Claire steps out of the stones. With an opening intent on foreshadowing the season finale, setting that moment in a never-before-seen time period could be a bit confusing.
Otherwise, season 2 of the show follows the story of the novel. Claire and Jamie (Sam Heughan) arrive in France to infiltrate the Jacobite rebellion and become involved in the strange world of French high society. In the show and the novel, the ending sees Claire stepping through the time travel stones, returning to her time, and leaving Jamie alone to face Culloden.
Season 3
Voyager
Voyager is the third book in Gabaldon’s series and Outlander‘s executive producer Ronald D. Moore claims that the third book was the easiest to adapt to the screen (via Radio Times). The show begins just like the book, with Outlander‘s long-awaited fight between the Jacobites and the Redcoats, and ends just as the novel does, with Jamie and Claire surviving a shipwreck that washes them upon the shore of the American colony of Georgia.
One significant structural change that the show makes to the book is that the show tells Jamie’s story through his point of view rather than in the third person, like the novel.
Another major change is that Murtagh (Duncan Lacroix) dies in Dragonfly in Amber at the Battle of Culloden, while in the show, he survives long after. Claire’s story in the novel also involves her and her daughter researching Jamie to figure out what happened to him. This doesn’t make for particularly interesting television viewing, so there are a few invented storylines for Claire and minor plots taken from other books and spinoffs.
Season 4
Drums Of Autumn
Season 4 of Outlander adapts Gabaldon’s fourth book in the series, Drums of Autumn. Fans of the novels will be glad to know that season 4 of the show closely mirrors the events in the novel with only some minor differences. Season 4 and Drums of Autumn both pick up where the previous entry left off, with Jamie and Claire in the New World, trying to make a home together after finally being reunited. Their daughter Brianna “Bree” (Sophie Skelton) travels through the stones to be with her mother and finally meets her real father like in the novel.
A significant structural change in the story is that the show focuses on Jamie this season much more than it does Claire. One notable omission from the book is the scene at the end of Drums of Autumn when Bree gives birth to her son with Claire as the midwife and Jamie looking on. It’s a meaningful generational moment and the story of the Fraser’s reunion loses some of its impact without it. However, both series end with Claire and Jamie helping Bree and Roger (Richard Rankin) reunite and find a home in colonial America.
Season 5
The Fiery Cross, A Breath Of Snow And Ashes
Outlander season 5 is when the TV show begins adapting parts of multiple books over the course of one season. Season 5 primarily uses the fifth book in the series, The Fiery Cross, as a source, but it also includes some pieces of A Breath of Snow and Ashes in its timeline. The TV show starts out much as the novels do, with the Fraser clan looking to make a home and protect their homestead on Fraser’s Ridge. Roger attempts to make his father-in-law Jamie respect him, as he knows little about survival in the 18th century.
Unlike the novels, Murtagh has survived, and he is the leader of a group of Regulators that the Governor of North Carolina orders Jamie to hunt down. This leads to Murtagh’s heartbreaking death in Outlander, which is actually an improvement from his unceremonious end in the books. Towards the end of the season, Bree and Roger travel back to the 20th century in order to utilize modern medicine to save their daughter Mandy’s life. This does happen in the novels but not until A Breath of Snow and Ashes, the sixth book in the series.
Season 6
A Breath Of Snow And Ashes
Outlander season 6 only has eight episodes, four less than even the shortest season that came before. This means that while season 6 only adapts material from one novel, A Breath of Snow and Ashes, it doesn’t adapt everything, and many storylines are left as cliffhangers.
With season 5 encompassing the start of book 6 and season 7 resolving the end, season 6 deals with the middle portion of the sixth novel. The finale of season 6 is key as it separates Claire and Jamie, and sees Claire brought to Wilmington for her murder trial. This is already a departure from the series where she is brought to New Bern.
Season 7
A Breath Of Snow And Ashes, An Echo In The Bone, Written In My Own Heart’s Blood
Season 7 of Outlander has the very difficult duty of adapting the end of book 6, A Breath of Snow and Ashes; book 7, An Echo in the Bone; and book 8, Written in My Own Heart’s Blood. Season 7 of Outlander is supersized and split into two parts, with the first 8 episodes having already aired. The first part of season 7 ended with Jamie being injured during the Battle of Saratoga and the Frasers finally returning to Scotland.
Bree and her husband spend much of the season in the future, working modern jobs and renovating their home while living in a caravan. The second half of season 7 is set to finish the story from the seventh book An Echo in the Bone and the eighth book Written in My Own Heart’s Blood (via TV Guide).
