Meta description: Outlander’s Scottish prequel Blood of My Blood is in production for Starz — here is what has been confirmed about the cast, the filming locations, and how it connects to the original.
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Wide cinematic shot of a misty Scottish Highland glen at dawn — dramatic mountains rising into low cloud, a single stone-walled track winding into the distance, no people, no modern objects. Mood of pre-industrial Scotland. NO TEXT. 16:9, 1200×675, editorial cinematic style.
Starz is in production on Outlander: Blood of My Blood, the prequel that pulls the timeline back several decades from the main Outlander series to tell the love story of Jamie Fraser’s parents — Brian Fraser and Ellen MacKenzie — alongside a parallel story for Claire Beauchamp’s parents, Henry Beauchamp and Julia Moriston. The prequel was officially greenlit by Starz in 2024 and has been progressing through casting and production prep since. Here is what has been confirmed and what credible reporting adds.
The Premise
Blood of My Blood is structured as a dual-timeline period drama set against the backdrop of pre-Jacobite Scotland and World War I-era England. The Scottish strand follows the courtship and marriage of Brian and Ellen, the parents of the main series’ Jamie Fraser. The English strand follows Henry and Julia, the parents of Claire. Diana Gabaldon, the author of the Outlander novels, has been involved as an executive producer and has spoken publicly about her enthusiasm for the project on her blog and through Starz press materials.
Showrunner Matthew B. Roberts, who served as showrunner on the main Outlander series in its later seasons, leads the writers’ room. Roberts has talked openly with outlets including The Hollywood Reporter about the prequel’s intention to honor the texture of the original show while finding its own visual and emotional register.
The Scottish Production Base
Closeup of weathered hands holding a 17th-century cup near a peat fire — warm orange firelight on aged wooden surfaces, no faces visible, intimate atmospheric mood.
The production is anchored at the same Scottish soundstage complex that has housed Outlander for more than a decade — Wardpark Studios in Cumbernauld, North Lanarkshire, roughly a 25-minute drive from central Glasgow. Wardpark gives the production stable interior sets and continuity with the wider Outlander craft team. For readers who want the deeper geography of the main show, our guide to where Outlander itself is filmed across Scotland covers Doune Castle, Midhope, Culross, and the rest of the key locations.
For exterior work, the new production has been spotted shooting across the Scottish central belt, the Trossachs, and the Highlands. Visit Scotland’s screen tourism office has continued to coordinate location access with productions like this one, and the Scottish government’s Screen Scotland agency has supported the production financially through its on-going funding programs.
The Cast
Starz has confirmed the leads anchoring the Scottish strand and the English strand — though the public has come to expect Starz to roll out additional supporting cast announcements through its own social channels rather than via single press releases. Trade outlets including Variety and Deadline have run regular updates as additional cast members are added to the production.
Tone and Visual Language
Wide establishing shot of an ancient stone Scottish keep on a heather-covered hillside, late afternoon light, dramatic clouds, no modern objects. Cinematic feel.
Roberts and the producers have indicated, in interviews tied to the main show’s previous seasons, that the prequel intends to lean further into a romantic-historical register and lighter visual palette than the more violent stretches of the parent series. The pre-Jacobite Scottish setting allows for an older, less stable highland society than Outlander’s mid-18th-century world, and the English wartime strand opens up an entirely new aesthetic for the franchise.
Release Timing
Starz has not announced a public premiere date for Blood of My Blood at the time of writing. The production’s post-production pipeline is shorter than something like House of the Dragon’s, but still substantial for a period drama with significant location work. A late 2026 or early 2027 release window is the most credible estimate based on the cadence of comparable Starz period productions, though Starz’s communications have not formally confirmed.
The Bigger Picture
Blood of My Blood arrives as the main Outlander series moves into its final stretch. Starz announced years ago that the parent show would conclude with Season 8, and the prequel is positioned as the future of the franchise — extending the world for new viewers while giving existing fans a deeper dive into the parents whose story Jamie and Claire reference repeatedly across the original novels. The Scottish industry’s continued investment in production infrastructure makes it a natural home for a project of this scale.
For more on Scotland as a filming destination, see the Outlander filming-locations guide. For other ongoing prestige-TV productions, the rest of our Filming News archive tracks the wider landscape.