Outlander Season 6 pre-production work has officially begun

Outlander Season 5 is still filming but that doesn’t mean pre-production work on Outlander Season 6 can’t happen. Matt B. Roberts shows the work has begun.

If you’re worried about the next Droughtlander, it sounds like the production team is trying to keep it as short as possible. Matt B. Roberts made it clear this week that Outlander Season 6 pre-production work has officially begun.

The showrunner shared a photo on Twitter of “A Breath of Snow and Ashes,” the sixth book in the saga by Diana Gabaldon. It’s clear that while some of the storylines may crop up in a small way in the fifth season, the show is still trying to do one book per season. And Season 6 is definitely based mostly on Book 6.

More from Outlander News

• Outlander: Blood of My Blood is not coming to STARZ in November 2023
• Outlander Season 6 is not coming to Netflix in November 2023
• Outlander Season 7B is not coming to STARZ in November 2023
• How old is Jamie Fraser when he dies in Outlander?
• Did Bree and Lord John Grey marry in Outlander?

What’s intriguing by the picture is the number of sticky notes throughout the book. They’re all color-coded in some way but Roberts doesn’t share how. Is each color for a specific character storyline? That would make some sense.

There are at least five different colors of the tabs, maybe six unless it’s a flicker of the light. That suggests Claire, Jamie, Brianna, and Roger have specific storylines and the others could be either Lord John Grey, Fergus, or even Marsali. And that’s not even including the fact that Murtagh will still likely be around and his storyline needs to be created.

There’s no doubt that this is going to be a big task for Roberts. He certainly has to read the book in a different way to any of us, picking out the most important scenes and figure out how and if they could be transformed to the screen. And while he will get some of the final say, he’ll still need to chat with the rest of the writer’s room to make sure everyone is on the same page.

And then he’d have to make sure it fits with the majority of the viewers. We all know what book-first fans thought of the writers choosing not to have Claire and Jamie make it back in time for Jemmy’s birth. Show-first or show-only fans didn’t seem to mind it as much. It’s not an easy task trying to please everyone and it’s not a job I would like to have!

How long with Outlander Season 6 pre-production work last? That’s going to be the big question. Starting now is a good sign. With block five filming just starting, the fifth season will be wrapped by the end of this year. Hopefully, this part of the pre-production work and the writing of the scripts will be finished to allow filming on Outlander Season 6 to start almost right away.

What would you love to see from “A Breath of Snow and Ashes” in Outlander Season 6? Share your thoughts in the comments below.

Outlander Season 5 will premiere on Feb. 16 on STARZ.