Ron Moore’s Outlander Adaptation Gets Series Order From Starz
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It’s been quite a few years since Ron Moore (Battlestar Galactica) was able to bring sci-fi fans more than one project at a time. Being busy with two of the biggest franchises in the genre will do that. His quest to adapt Diana Gabaldon’s epic Outlander series for television has come to fruition, which I’m sure will rile some people up just as it will excite others. Moore’s work tends to polarize the population for some reason.
Starz showed interest in the project last year, and they have indeed given the Sony Pictures TV project the greenlight, with an order for 16 episodes. Apparently it was the award-winning Gabaldon herself who let the news slip at the Book Expo America 2013.
The Outlander series is far from just regular old science fiction, though, as the series mixes in elements of mystery, historical romance, and adventure as well. The story begins (for lack of a better word when dealing with time travel) with Claire, a married WWII combat nurse who is thrown back to the year 1743, stuck in the middle of the unknown, where her life is in danger. She is forced to marry Jamie, a young Scottish warrior, and Claire is torn between lovers from different ages, not knowing how her story will end. With the eighth novel in the series on the way — there was also a graphic novel, a couple of short stories, and The Outlandish Companion — Claire’s story has quite a way to go before it ends.
Moore, who also has the Thing-like series Helix on the way for Syfy, is writing this series with past collaborators Toni Graphia and Ian Behr, as well as Matt Roberts and Anne Kenney. Production is set to take place in Scotland, the novels’ setting, and will begin in October of this year. Knowing how Starz’s series usually work, I’m guessing Scotland is in for a lot of NSFW footage.
Take a listen to a few more things Gabaldon has to say in the below video.
