It is still four months until Outlander returns to STARZ for its fifth season, which will play out over 12 episodes and is based on Diana Gabaldon’s The Fiery Cross, but on Saturday, Oct. 5, members of the cast of Outlander gathered for a panel, moderated by Ginger Zee, at New York Comic Con. Attending were Caitriona Balfe (Claire), Sam Heughan (Jamie), Duncan Lacroix (Murtagh), Maria Doyle Kennedy (Jocasta) and David Berry (Lord John Grey), as well as executive producers Ronald D. Moore and Maril Davis and author Gabaldon.

According to STARZ: Season 5 finds the Frasers fighting for their family and the home they have forged on Fraser’s Ridge. Jamie must find a way to defend all that he has created in America, and to protect those who look to him for leadership and protection – while hiding his personal relationship with Murtagh Fitzgibbons , the man whom Governor William Tryon (Tim Downie) has ordered him to hunt down and kill.

With her family together at last, Claire Fraser must use her modern medical knowledge and foresight to prevent them from being ripped apart once again. However, while focusing on protecting others, she risks losing sight of what it means to protect herself.

Meanwhile, Brianna Fraser (Sophie Skelton) and Roger MacKenzie (Richard Rankin) have been reunited, but the spectre of Stephen Bonnet (Edward Speleers) still haunts them. Roger strives to find his place – as well as Jamie’s respect – in this new and dangerous time. The Frasers must come together, navigating the many perils that they foresee – and those they can’t.

Following is a bit of what Heughan and Balfe had to say:

Caitriona and Sam, you are producers this season how will we see that impact season 5?

Caitriona: If it is good, we will take full credit. If there are any complaints, don’t call us. (joke) It has really been interesting to be able to see the behind the scenes and the work that goes on. A lot of this has been us observing and learning and I think that was very important to us to see what great work that they do behind the scenes on Outlander, just watching the work of each different department and the work that they do. We have the most incredible crew back in Scotland and being able to sit in on production meetings, and hearing what each one of them contributes has been eye opening. As actors, you show up on the day and say, “Look at everything,” but to see that process has been really interesting.

This is driven by Jamie and Claire’s love story. What can we expect in season 5?

Starz’s centuries-spanning romance drama Outlander won’t air any new episodes in 2019. The series will return in early 2020, Starz COO Jeffrey Hirsch said at TCA Friday.

He was asked to address the decision to delay the premiere of Season 5, based on the fifth in Diana Gabaldon’s series of novels, which is well into production having started filming two months ago.

“The decision behind everything that we do in terms of our programming schedule, is based on delivery schedules,” Hirsch said. “We try to have something on the air to serve the premium female audience. We have some shows coming before that serve the Power audience.”

The supersized final season of Starz’s biggest series, Power will air in two parts, 10 episodes starting Aug. 26 and five in January 2020, network’s programming boss Carmi Zlotnik said today.

Long breaks are not unusual for Outlander. Since switching to 13-episode seasons in Year 2, the show has taken 17 months between the Season 2 and Season 3 debuts and 14 months between the Seasons 3 and Season 4 openers. Season 4 of Outlander premiered in November 2018. [Source]

On the Starz series Outlander, now in its fourth season, time-traveling 20th century doctor Claire Fraser (Caitriona Balfe) and her 18th century Highlander husband Jamie Fraser (Sam Heughan) are trying to make a home for themselves in colonial America. In a world on the cusp of the American Revolution, succeeding in the rough and dangerous backcountry of North Carolina presents its own set of challenges, and Claire and Jamie must learn to navigate through slavery, co-existing with Native Americans, and the current British ruling class.

At the Los Angeles press day to discuss the new season, Collider was invited to participate in a small roundtable interview (with a couple other media outlets) with co-stars Caitriona Balfe and Sam Heughan, who talked about the challenges specific to Season 4, navigating through a new and different world, the Fraser’s Ridge homestead, figuring out who Jamie and Claire are now at this point in their relationship, how Brianna (Sophie Skelton) will affect things for them, the introduction of Stephen Bonnet (Ed Speleers), the lack of a kilt, and what you might see on the Season 4 blooper reel. Be aware that there are some spoilers discussed.

Question: Obviously, there are huge challenges with every season of this show because it is so epic in scope, but what were the challenges that were specific to this season, that you hadn’t had to deal with before?

CAITRIONA BALFE: This season, more than any other, we’ve had a lot of blue screen. There’s been a lot more CGI then before. It’s interesting filming in Scotland which has so much rain and so much water. They don’t have the expansive rivers that you would have in North Carolina. So, a lot of the river journey that we took in Episode 1 was CGI, and that’s just a different thing. We’ve never really had that as much, in prior seasons.

SAM HEUGHAN: Also, this season, we’re in America and there are a lot of issues there, politically. The first couple of episodes explore things from slavery to the treatment of Native Americans, which are things that we’ve never really dealt with. We saw slavery last season, but we didn’t really deal with it. You just saw it. So, that’s something that’s different in Season 4.

This Droughtlander has been one of the worst in recent memory for Outlander fans, more so for the scores of Diana Gabaldon‘s book lovers out there, because we know what’s coming next.

Ok, I guess I should say we THINK we know what’s coming next, as it’s highly likely things will be changed for the upcoming 4th season of the STARZ series.

This morning the official Outlander twitter account posted a photo of series star Caitriona Balfe as Claire Fraser sitting atop a horse in a forest.

“Caitriona’s smile is EVERYTHING,” the tweet read, and we have to agree with them. If you’ve ever been lucky enough to be in the same room with the Irish model-turned-actress, you know she really does have an infectious joyful personality, one that can light up a room no matter how dim.

Outlander season 4 has no official release date yet, but we’ll more than likely get an update during July’s San Diego Comic Con. [Source]

Poor Claire and Jamie—they’ve been through so much. Apart from the odd bit of time travel (obviously), Outlander’s central couple have dealt with a 20-year separation, assault, death, battles, amputation, cheating, political revolution, kidnapping, disease and 18th-century bathroom facilities. The last time we saw them, they’d just been shipwrecked at the American colonies, so it’s all been a bit tiring.

But, good news! In the forthcoming season 4, our favorite bodice-ripping couple will finally get to relax—sort of. ELLE.com got all the juice from the Outlander For Your Consideration pre-Emmy event in Los Angeles this weekend.

They get to experience settled married life—and it’s not always amazing.

“We finally actually get to see them in some sort of state of domestic bliss,” Caitriona Balfe, who plays Claire, told ELLE.com on the red carpet. “Finally, they’re not being ripped from home or made to travel across oceans. They actually settle, and it’s a different dynamic, and it’s nice to explore that. Like, what is this relationship when it’s normal? Because we haven’t really had that.”

But domesticity might not exactly be Jamie’s strong suit, and that could lead to blow-ups. “He’s very practical,” Sam Heughan explained. “Like why does he need to put the toilet seat down? It’d probably drive him irate that she’d clean up around him, or make him put things in certain places. I’m sure their domestic arguments are pretty fiery.”

But there’s still going to be plenty of sexy time.

“It’s a very important part of their relationship,” Heughan said. But without the tension of constantly being separated, or imprisoned, or nearly dead, things might have slowed down a little in that department. “They’re slightly older,” he added, “so maybe it’s less energetic, who knows? But they are madly in love with each other. They’re older now, and it’s the first time we actually get to see them as this couple that actually can be together and not be in some sort of dire drama. Up until now, there’s always been something going on. It’s nice, for a brief moment, to see them be able to relax in each other’s company, though of course it’s Outlander, so it doesn’t last long.”