Outlander just recently wrapped up its first season over at Starz, but the subscription cable network is already looking toward Season 2. On Wednesday, it was revealed that Outlander has signed on Dominique Piñon to play a popular character from Diana Gabaldon’s series during Season 2. Piñon will be playing the mysterious Master Raymond during the upcoming episodes of the drama.
Starz’s announcement this morning mentions that Master Raymond is a friend of Claire’s as well as a healer, but anyone who has read the book series knows that Master Raymond is more complex than that. If you want to avoid minor book spoilers, please hop ahead to the next paragraph. During Season 2, Claire and Jamie will actually travel to France, where they will attempt to stop the burgeoning Jacobite rebellion in its tracks. During the course of her time in Paris, Claire will meet Master Raymond, who keeps a shop filled with all sorts of ingredients she can use for medicine, as well as a few other odd specimens. Master Raymond’s intentions aren’t always clear, but he seems to get along well with Claire.
Season 2 of Outlander is already in production and has signed on a few other actors, including Stanley Weber, who will play Frenchman and villain Le Comte St. Germain, and Robert Cavanah, who will play Jamie’s enterprising cousin Jared Fraser. The last few episodes during Season 1 were rough to get through and emotional, but now that they are over, it’ll be interesting to see Jamie and Claire head on a new adventure together.
While Outlander managed to get renewed after just one episode aired last fall, it looks as if Season 2’s schedule will look a whole lot different. We still don’t know exactly how many episodes will be put together for Season 2, although “at least 13” have been promised by Starz (Season 1 had 16 episodes). Season 1 was also notable for its split season; eight episodes aired in the fall and another eight aired this past spring. Fortunately or unfortunately, that doesn’t seem to be the route the subscription channel wants to take during Season 2. This time around, new episodes won’t hit the schedule until 2016, although it’s unclear whether the new batch of episodes will still be split or not.
Outlander is just one of a series of original programs that have helped Starz to boost its profile and its value considerably during the 2014-2015 TV season. Other programs, including Black Sails, Power and more have also helped the subscription cable channel to do well. Still, Outlander’s the newest and showiest program in the batch, with eight bestselling novels to back the story, and we’re very pleased to see the show gearing up for Season 2.
