How could Outlander handle the 1739 storylines without Black Jack?

Fans learned that Tobias Menzies isn’t returning for the final season of Outlander. This also suggests that he won’t be back for Outlander Season 7B.

Now for a lot of fans who haven’t read the books, this may not be that surprising to hear. Frank and Black Jack Randall, the two characters Menzies played, are dead. How would the two return? Well, book fans know of a storyline. This is a show that involves time travel, remember!

There is a particular storyline in Written in My Own Heart’s Blood that takes place in 1739. Characters traveling through time head to Lallybroch, where they come across Brian Fraser and Jenny Fraser. That shouldn’t be too surprising considering we know Andrew Whipp is confirmed for Outlander Season 7B, which means this 1739 storyline is going to take place.

Black Jack Randall also turns up in this storyline. Black Jack Randall finds something from the 1940s that connects to the real reason why a character ends up in this time period and not the one he thought he was going to.

Outlander Season 7B could completely skip over the Black Jack Randall part

There is a way around the storyline in Outlander Season 7B. We know that Brian is going to return. And we know that there’s a good chance we’ll see Jenny since Kristin Atherton is taking over the role of Jenny Fraser Murray. The two of them are the more important parts of the storyline.

Instead of Black Jack finding the items from the 1940s, we could find out that Brian or Jenny found them. Or, we could learn that Black Jack found them but not see Black Jack explain where. Instead, that could come up in a conversation with Brian, as if Black Jack had already explained everything needed to allow the other characters to go on their journey.

The truth is Black Jack Randall is the least important part of this part of the story. So, it gets around the problem of Tobias Menzies not returning.

It’s just disappointing that we won’t see the character again. Maybe there is still time to write in some cameos at the very end of the series.

Outlander is available to stream on STARZ.