Outlander Book Club: Drums of Autumn Chapter 30 breakdown

Foreshadowing in the Outlander chapter

This chapter is all about plot development. It makes it very clear that Brianna has gone through the stones and Roger is going to follow her through. The comment about how dangerous the 18th century is, especially for women, is enough to make it clear Roger is going through after Brianna.

There is a little bit of foreshadowing when it comes to Joe Abernathy, though. When it comes to going back to the 20th century, everyone knows they can rely on Joe to help them get settled back in. No questions about where they’ve been all this time.

Adapting the Drums of Autumn chapter

The chapter wasn’t used for the TV series. Roger learns the truth about Brianna going through the stones in a different way. He decides to phone Bree and her roommate picks up, telling Roger that Bree has gone to see her mom.

Why would the show change this storyline? It’s possibly linked to Wil Johnson’s schedule. He would have likely been filming Carnival Row at the time. If not, he may have been tied up with something else.

Producers can’t just expect guest stars to be available for a role later in their story. The last we saw Joe was in Outlander Season 3, Episode 5. Now we’re up to the mid-point of Outlander Season 4. That’s a long time to wait for a guest star, and most aren’t going to do that. It’s nothing about the show but about their jobs.

So, to manage potentially not having Johnson around to film, the writers opted for a slightly different story. While it’s disappointing for book-first fans, it’s wholly understandable from a production standpoint.

What did you spot while reading Drums of Autumn Chapter 30? Let us know in the comments below.

Like Claire and Jamie on Facebook for the latest from the Outlander Book Club and much more.