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'Outlander' Season 7 sets return of some familiar faces including Dougal MacKenzie & Geillis Duncan
It's gonna be a gathering of familiar faces as Outlander Season 7 welcomes back some beloved characters.
As most Outlander series fans know, the creative team has hit the mid-point of production on their super-sized seventh season. While primarily based on storylines featured in the seventh book of Diana Gabaldon's Outlander series, An Echo in the Bone, fans know at this point to expect some departures from the source material and expansions on stories to mix it up for fans, old and new. For book readers in the know, the seventh book includes a return to active time travel with some health predicaments impacting the young MacKenzie family that Claire (Caitríona Balfe) can't properly address in 1776. The stones are their answer and that brings Bree (Sophie Skelton) and Roger (Richard Rankin) into the orbit of some familiar relatives.
Just how executive producers Maril Davis and Matthew B. Roberts will portray that in their series narrative will remain a mystery until Season 7 bows on Starz sometime in 2023. But we finally have more clues with today's announcement of just who will be involved, with the return of several beloved actors to the coming season including Graham McTavish as Jamie's uncle Dougal MacKenzie; Nell Hudson as Jamie's ex-wife, Laoghaire Fraser; Layla Burns as Marsali's sister, Joan MacKimmie; Steven Cree as Ian's father, Old Ian Murray; and Lotte Verbeek as fellow time traveler, Geillis Duncan.
The returning faces all but confirm that Season 7 will feature time travel shenanigans and/or some story appropriate flashbacks to the past to fill in some important unseen moments in the Fraser's past. Outlander the series uses that story device often, but it also might also serve the dual function of tipping up the impending Outlander prequel series, Blood of My Blood, which charts the courtship and adventures of Jamie's parents, Ellen MacKenzie and Brian Fraser. In the Season 7 cast list, actor Andrew Whipp is also returning to play an older Brian Fraser, which could be an important connector character to the events in the promised prequel.
Also of note in the announcement is the recasting of two key characters: Diarmaid Murtagh now playing Buck MacKenzie, the bastard child of Dougal and Geillis Duncan. In Season 5, Graham McTavish played Buck, but that obviously can't continue as Dougal is needed back in the main narrative. And it's been officially revealed that Kristin Atherton will now play the role of Jamie's sister and Old Ian's wife, Jenny Murray. The character was originated by actress Laura Donnelly, who now leads the cast of HBO's supernatural period drama, The Nevers. Great to see Jenny back in the story, but sad to say goodbye to Donnelly's amazing portrayal.
The world of Outlander also means welcoming brand-new characters into the story fold, and they include loria Obianyo (Dune) as Mercy Woodcock, a free Black woman navigating the hardships of life in Colonial America; Rod Hallett (The Last Kingdom) as Benedict Arnold, the notorious Revolutionary soldier turned traitor; and Chris Fulton (Bridgerton) as Rob Cameron, a new acquaintance of Roger and Brianna.
Looking for more fantasy? Check out the entire Harry Potter film saga streaming now on Peacock.
