Droughtlander is finally over. Starz premiered Outlander Season 5 earlier than expected and fans got a glimpse of the growing Fraser family.
As soon as Outlander Season 5 Episode 1 became available, fans started to speculate about the future of the Frasers even though many Outlander fans already have an idea of where it is heading based on Diana Gabaldon's book series. Nonetheless, one of the things that fans have noticed in Episode 1 is the huge house of the Fraser.
It is indeed big as compared to what viewers have seen in the previous season and what they have imagined in the book. Outlander executive producer Matthew B. Roberts has an explanation for it.
For starters, it was not the same house that the Fraser had in the previous episode. In the story, they built a new abode at the Fraser Ridge with the help of the settlers in their estate.
But, why did Outlander bosses decide to give Jamie (Sam Heughan) and Claire (Caitriona Balfe) a bigger home? The reason is actually realistic and functional for the production staff point of view.
The showrunner admitted that book fans may ask that it was not the house they imagined in Gabaldon's book. He explained that they have to depart from the book a little for functionaly reasons and to make the adaptation look good for TV viewers.
"If we built it to the actual size, we could get the actors in there but we couldn't get any cameras or crew. So anytime you see a scene where it's just Jamie and Claire, there's another 15 people standing just opposite them," he told Entertainment Weekly.
Meanwhile in the upcoming Outlander Season 5 Episode 2, titled "Between Two Fires," Jamie is torn between his oath to Governor Tryon and his loyalty to his godfather, Murtagh Fitzgibbons Fraser (Duncan Lacroix). In the next episode, Jamie will continue to "hunt" Murtagh with the aid of Lieutenant Hamilton Knox.
In the previous episode, Jamie had released Murtagh from his past oath to the former's mother. This allowed Murtagh to go on hiding. However, the Fraser patriarch still needs to convince the governor of his allegiance.
Elsewhere, Claire is dangerously carrying out his duty as a doctor. A teaser for Episode 2 showed an illness hits Fraser's Ridge and it prompts the residents to use folk medicine to avoid more deaths.
Claire knows that the illness could be prevented and is forced to use modern methods to keep the settlers safe. However, Claire also knows that what she is doing is risky and could alter history. Outlander Season 5 Episode 2 airs on February 23 at 8 p.m. ET on Starz.
