The pandemic delays and Caitriona Balfe’s unexpected pregnancy led to some changes for filming Outlander Season 6, including shooting it out of order.
We know that Outlander doesn’t film episode by episode. The seasons usually film in blocks, usually two episodes at at time. The directors will also usually be on board for two episodes due to the way things film.
Season 6’s filming went very different when it came to filming. Not only did it get started late due to the pandemic, but episodes had to be filmed completely out of order. Production needed to film Caitriona Balfe’s scenes as soon as possible.
Outlander Season 6 filmed out of order to avoid a baby bump
Productions are not strangers to filming around baby bumps. They’ve had to do it since the dawn of time. Women get pregnant, and productions just have to deal with it.
Some TV shows will write the pregnancies into the series. We just have to look at how Angel wrote Charisma Carpenter’s pregnancy into the story (albeit in an absolutely terrible way). Other shows will hide the pregnancies, usually due to character development that’s already happened. We’ve seen How I Met Your Mother, Grey’s Anatomy, and much more hide pregnancies.
There’s no way that Outlander could write Caitriona Balfe’s very real pregnancy into the story. Claire doesn’t have a baby at this point in the books, and it would have been a diversion that fans simply wouldn’t be able to get on board with. That’s especially the case with how Season 5 ended and the likely drama that would be created with the pregnancy. So, the show had no choice but to hide it.
During NYCC 2021, the cast talked about hiding Balfe’s pregnancy. Sam Heughan talked about how they had to film the first and third episode first before jumping to Episode 6 or so, and then they had to jump back a bit. There were then reshoots afterward.
We’re sure to never really be able to tell the difference in how Outlander Season 6 was filmed. There’s an art in the post-production stage.
We sure can’t wait to see how Outlander Season 6 turns out. We’re getting closer to it being available to watch.
What are you excited to see in Outlander Season 6? What do you hope is included from A Breath of Snow and Ashes? Share your thoughts in the comments below.
Outlander Season 6 premieres in early 2022 on STARZ.