So much of what happens in Episode 7 of Season 8 of Outlander is either not taken directly from the bestselling books by Diana Gabaldon or was created solely for the purpose of the TV series, so there wasn’t a lot to chat about with the author with that in mind.

In the “Evidence of Things Not Seen” episode, a major event is the death of Fergus (César Domboy) in a fire at the print shop. The foreshadowing for this tragedy comes when a rock with a note is thrown through a window of the print shop, and then later, Marsali (Lauren Lyle) is tomatoed by a Loyalist who doesn’t love her husband’s Patriot leanings.

With all of the stories to tell, the writers decide to discard them and invent new ones? While the writing is impeccable, even though implausible, I like the storylines best when they are true to the source material.. Finding out Faith is alive, nullifies most of Season 2 and a major theme of the overall story. This was an insult to the pain they felt from losing Faith. I’ve been there.

In Gabaldon’s book, there is a fire in the print shop, but it isn’t Fergus who succumbs to it, but rather their son Henri-Christian (Benjamin Moss), who slips from his brother Germain’s (Robin Scott) grasp while attempting to jump to safety from the rooftop and hits the ground, dying upon impact.

In the TV series, Fergus is on the roof, helping the boys to escape the fire by shimmying down a rope, and yes, Henri-Christian once again slips, but Roger (Richard Rankin) is there to catch him. Meanwhile, just as Fergus is about to come off the roof, it collapses, plunging him into the fire below.

 

César Domboy

Gabaldon Says the Writers Couldn’t Bring Themselves to Kill Henri-Christian

“I can tell you that they killed Fergus because they (personally) couldn’t stand to kill Henri-Christian (several of them told me it was the final line of that scene from the book— ‘…the sound of his head striking the cobbles was the sound of the end of the world’ that horrified them so much they couldn’t stand to do it onscreen,” Gabaldon says by way of explaining such a major story change. “I suppose they thought they had to kill somebody. Personally, I thought if they were too chicken to do it right, they should just have eased back and burned down the print-shop—but (luckily) not my call.”

She Objects to William Discovering Lord John’s Sexuality

Moving on to the William (Charles Vandervaart)-Lord John (David Berry) story, William is already mad at his adopted father for lying to him his whole life about who his biological father was. This is a wound that still hasn’t healed when William walks in on Lord John being kissed by Percy (Michael Lindall) and realizes that he’s a “sodomite.” This, again, doesn’t happen in Gabaldon’s version of the story.

“I really object(ed) to them making William find out that Lord John is gay,” Gabaldon says. “There’s absolutely no reason (plot or character-wise) to do that, other than shock value. Essentially, this episode isn’t a structural part of the show; it’s just a collection of shocks.”

Which of the show’s deviations from the ‘Outlander’ books is most surprising or controversial?

Charles Vandervaart
Charles VandervaartCourtesy: STARZ

Another Plotline Was Invented ‘Whole Cloth’

But the biggest shock of all for Outlander book readers is the letter from Philadelphia from Ian (John Bell), which confirms to Jamie (Sam Heughan) and Claire (Caitríona Balfe) their belief that Fanny (Florrie May Wilkinson) is their granddaughter and they learn that the family was on its way to Fraser’s Ridge when their boat was attacked by pirates.

Then, for further confirmation, at the end of the episode, we saw Master Raymond (Dominique Pinon) handing over baby Faith to the French lacemaker, who raised her as her own when she wasn’t able to turn the baby over to Claire, who, thinking her daughter dead, fled France.

Related: Diana Gabaldon Explains Jamie’s Life-Saving Deal—And Its One Major Catch (Exclusive)

Book readers know that Faith did die. Master Raymond did not use his special “blue” light healing energy to restore her to life.

Gabaldon simply says, “I disregard anything involving Faith and/or Master Raymond, because I know they’re inventing it out of whole cloth.”

Outlander will air new episodes each Friday at midnight ET on the STARZ app, all STARZ streaming and on-demand platforms; and at 8 p.m. ET/PT/7 Central on the linear network.