Outlander (book series)

Outlander is a series of historical fantasy novels by American author Diana Gabaldon. Gabaldon began the first volume of the series, Outlander, in the late 1980s, and it was published in 1991. She has published nine out of a planned ten volumes. The ninth novel in the series, Go Tell the Bees That I Am Gone, was released on November 23, 2021.

The Outlander series focuses on 20th-century British nurse Claire Randall, who time travels to 18th-century Scotland and finds adventure and romance with the dashing Highland warrior Jamie Fraser. The books have sold over 50 million copies worldwide as of 2021.

Among the many derived works are two short stories, three novellas, a novel series featuring recurring secondary character Lord John Grey, a graphic novel, a musical, and a television series.

The Outlander series has been released in both unabridged (read by Davina Porter) and abridged audiobooks (read by Geraldine James). Several of the Lord John books have been released in audiobook form, read by Jeff Woodman.

In 2010, Gabaldon adapted the first third of Outlander into a graphic novel, illustrated by Hoang Nguyen.

The Lord John series is a sequence of novels and shorter works that center on Lord John Grey, a recurring secondary character from the Outlander novels. The spin-off series consists of five novellas and three novels, which all take place between 1756 and 1761, during the events of Gabaldon's Voyager. They can be generally categorized as historical mysteries, and the three novels are shorter and focus on fewer plot threads than the main Outlander books. Several of the Lord John books have been released in audiobook form, read by Jeff Woodman.

Gabaldon was inspired by the Doctor Who character Jamie McCrimmon to set her series in Jacobite Scotland, and to name its protagonist Jamie.

Frazer Hines, who played McCrimmon, appears in an episode of the first season of the television series Outlander.

Core characters include:

In 2010, a 14-song cycle based on Outlander was released under the title Outlander: The Musical. With music by Kevin Walsh and lyrics by Mike Gibb, the project was approved by Gabaldon after Gibb had approached the author in Scotland with the idea to adapt her novel into a stage production. As Gabaldon recalled, "I laughed and said, 'That’s the screwiest idea I’ve heard yet – go ahead.' So they did, and the results were stunning." Though the stage production remains in development, the 14-song cycle is available on CD from Amazon.com and for download on iTunes.

In 2012, Broadway composer Jill Santoriello began collaborating with Gibb and Walsh on the project, writing the music and cowriting the lyrics with Gibb for a new song called "One More Time." The song was recorded with vocals by Rebecca Robbins.

In June 2013, Starz ordered 16 episodes of a television adaptation, and production began in October 2013 in Scotland. The series premiered in the US on August 9, 2014, with Caitríona Balfe and Sam Heughan starring as Claire and Jamie. It was picked up for a second season on August 15, 2014, and for a third and fourth season on June 1, 2016. On May 9, 2018, Starz renewed the series for a fifth and sixth season. Further renewals for seventh and eighth seasons were announced in early 2021 and late 2022 respectively.

In January 2023, Starz greenlighted a 10-episode prequel series, Blood of My Blood, based on Jamie's parents. Gabaldon will be an executive producer.