‘Outlander’ Season 3 Spoilers, Updates: Sam Heughan, Caitriona Balfe Reveal How Their Characters Will Age; Filming Begins Sometime in August or September

‘Outlander’ season 3 will follow Sam Heughan’s Jamie and Caitriona Balfe’s Claire in the later years of their life. The two revealed how their characters will age in the incoming season. Meanwhile, showrunner Ronald D. Moore revealed that filming will begin sometime in August or September this year.

According to IGN, Sophie Skelton and Richard Rankin will be incoming season’s new lead protagonists as Brianna and Roger, respectively. Heughan expressed his excitement at the show’s new shift in the storyline saying, "I’m kind of more excited about now going on from here… It’s just such an interesting place we’re at now."

Heughan revealed that he and Caitriona are preparing massive changes for their characters for 'Outlander' season 3, specifically that Jamie and Claire will be aged up to their 40s. He joked, "It’s fine, we’re getting put out to pasture and we can just get fat. I’ve already started… Surely [Jamie's] got a bit of a beer belly. I’m going to take it upon myself to age ungracefully. I think Fat Jamie is what everyone wants to see."

Meanwhile, Balfe admitted to turning to film to help her prepare for an aged Claire. She said, "I've started to watch films of certain actors who have had really long careers and watch them at this age and then watch them at that age… I've started to watch like, 'Well, what is different about them in the span of 20 years?' What changes? Is it just about your physical -- it can't be. So it's interesting. I'm sort of in the process of doing all of that now, and I'm still trying to figure it all out.”

She added, "I think experience and time change your makeup… For me the interesting things are, what does a lifetime's experience do to you? How do you change? I think for Claire there's a certain resignation that creeps into her character that I don't think was there before -- because I feel like I've always felt Claire is a very hopeful person, and so resilient, but she's resilient because of that hope and because, yes, bad things will happen, but she knows they can get through it and go forward."

Meanwhile, showrunner Ronald D. Moore revealed that he plans to adapt Diana Gabaldon’s third book “Voyager” for 'Outlander' season 3. According to Moviefone, he admitted that they are already in pre-production in Scotland and will begin filming by late August or early September.

Moore said that “Voyager” is more straightforward in comparison to the second book “Dragonfly in Amber” and some strategic changes will be applied to season 3 in terms of storytelling. He said, “Yeah, some things get moved around, but the third book is not nearly the same challenge as the second book is… The writers room is well underway, and we have scripts for the first two, three episodes.”

He added, “Season 3 is a traveling show. It starts in Scotland, but then it's a sea voyage. There are pirates. It's in Jamaica. It's in the New World.”

‘Outlander’ is a science-fiction and historical drama based on the bestselling time travel book series by Diana Gabaldon. It was developed by Ronald D. Moore and first premiered on Starz on August 2014.