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Let’s talk about the end of ‘Outlander’

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A woman and a man sit closely at a table and look into each other’s eyes

By Yvonne Villarreal, Robert Lloyd and Lorraine Ali

Welcome to Screen Gab, the newsletter for everyone who is tempted to add ‘seeking someone willing to time-travel to be with me’ to their online dating profile after watching ‘Outlander.’

Jamie and Claire Fraser, the fated couple that anchor “Outlander,” made the book-to-series story a global phenomenon with their once-in-a-lifetime love that defied time, distance and hardship. Now, after 12 years and eight seasons, their on-screen journey has ended.

The Starz drama reached its conclusion Friday — the series finale is available now to stream on the network’s app and will have its linear premiere at 8 p.m. PT/ET. Let this be your warning that there are ample spoilers ahead — so, scroll down at your own discretion or bookmark this for later.

We’ve been processing the end of the cult-favorite time-traveling drama. Earlier this year, I spoke with Caitriona Balfe (Claire) and Sam Heughan (Jamie) about their journey of bringing author Diana Gabaldon’s beloved characters to life. And culture critic Mary McNamara recently reflected on the show’s run in a shifting television landscape, writing: “‘Outlander’ may have never swept the Emmys or generated the fan frenzy of some of its peers (unless you count an enormous uptick in American visits to the Highlands), but its themes of endurance through periods of enormous change lend its survival — viewership for this final season has, according to Starz, far outstripped that of the last four seasons — a fair amount of poetic justice.” To say a proper goodbye, for this week’s Guest Spot, I hopped on a video call with Balfe and Heughan to break down the series finale.

Also in this week’s Screen Gab, our recommendations can add some comedy or horror to your weekend. TV critic Robert Lloyd suggests spending time with the beleaguered and restructured final chapter of “Good Omens,” while news and culture critic Lorraine Ali tells you why the third installment of AMC horror anthology series “The Terror” is an addictive watch.

And if you’re a planner like me and want to start thinking about which television shows and movies are worth scheduling into your summer plans, consider making our Summer Preview package your first beach read of the season.

There are guides:

And some features on upcoming releases:

If you prefer physical media for your deep reading, you can find it all in print in Sunday’s paper. Until next week!

— Yvonne Villarreal

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Recommendations from the film and TV experts at The Times

“Good Omens” (Prime Video)

Having parted ways at the end of this series’ second season, closer than close friends Aziraphale (Michael Sheen), an angel, and Crowley (David Tennant), a (former) demon, are back together on their beloved Earth to bring you closure. With creator Neil Gaiman (elaborating his 1990 novel, co-authored with the late Terry Pratchett) having become toxic (accusations of sexual impropriety, denied), a planned six episodes have been compressed, not fatally, into a 90-minute film. (Gaiman stepped away from the production.) The Second Coming has come to the top of the docket, but Aziraphale, now the Supreme Archangel in Heaven, wants to execute it minus the bloody Apocalypse. (Not all Heaven agrees.) Back on Earth, Crowley, when not lying drunk in an alley, is attempting to win back from a gangster the Bentley in which he was living, the SoHo street where Aziraphale kept his antiquarian bookshop has fallen to ruins, and a rebodied, confused Jesus (Bilal Hasna) is missing. It’s a love story, a murder mystery and a tale of suspense, bending toward a philosophically radical but sweet and satisfying curtain. — Robert Lloyd

“The Terror: Devil in Silver” (AMC+)

There’s a malevolent presence terrorizing residents at the New Hyde psychiatric hospital. Or is the evil entity merely imagined by heavily medicated patients who have little control over the pills they’re prescribed? That questionand more make for the chilling mystery behind this latest installment of the “Terror” horror anthology. Previously, the anthology paired historical, real-life tragedies such as the Franklin expedition and the internment of Japanese Americans with metaphysical horror. “Devil in Silver” blends supernatural spookiness with the disturbing state of America’s underfunded mental healthcare system.

This Ridley Scott-produced gothic horror series stars Dan Stevens as the ward’s newest patient, Pepper. He’s a down-on-his-luck rock drummer from Queens, N.Y., who is brought to the facility following a violent scuffle with the police. Despite having no apparent psychiatric issues, he’s wrongly committed by the cops because it’s cheaper and easier than processing him through the criminal justice system. There, he’s overseen by Dr. Anand (Aasif Mandvi), who demands compliance, is befriended by fellow patients including longtime resident Dorry (Judith Light) and is stalked by something he can’t explain.

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Filmed at the decommissioned Arthur Kill Correctional Facility on Staten Island, N.Y., this scary and addictive series explores the gray area between sanity and madness, asking viewers to discern what’s real and what’s simply a manifestation of the troubled mind. — Lorraine Ali

Guest Spot

A weekly chat with actors, writers, directors and more about what they’re working on — and what they’re watching

In the series finale of “Outlander,” titled “And the World Was All Around Us,” time-traveler Claire (Balfe) and her Highlander husband Jamie (Heughan) meet their fate — but what that means, exactly, is up for interpretation. The historical fantasy drama has spent its run following the couple’s enduring love as its survived countless perils — separately and together. Much of the show’s eighth and final season had the duo brace for a looming threat detailed in a book written by Frank Randall (Tobias Menzies), a 20th-century British historian and Claire’s first husband. It revealed Jamie would die during the Battle of Kings Mountain. But could Jamie and Claire alter history? Will we ever know for sure? Over a video call, I spoke with Balfe and Heughan about the process of shooting the final moments of the series, what they hope fans feels after watching it and whether they’d be open to a reprising their roles in the future. —Y.V.

There were multiple endings that were written or multiple final scenes shot. What was your reaction when you learned what route was taken?

Heughan: It was a mystery for everyone, really. Matt kept his cards close to his chest, and we didn’t really get those scripts until maybe a couple of weeks before we were shooting — and the actual ending itself, I’m not sure when we were told what it was. Everyone had their own ideas, and the fans had their own ideas, and it’s really hard to sort of choose an appropriate ending, one that will be satisfying for everyone. But I know that I, personally, really wanted to do what we did in this ending. To see Jamie’s ghost or to understand more about what that was about. The multiple endings was to keep it under wraps. We didn’t really shoot different endings, per se, but ultimately, we didn’t know what the ending was, really, until we saw it yesterday.

Balfe: I was not part of some of the filming. I was there when Sam did the ghost stuff. And actually, I had forgotten, but Sophie just sent us a video, and I was like, “Oh, OK, of course, I remember all of that.” But when Jamie, for example, Jamie goes up to the stones and stuff, I wasn’t part of that, and I wasn’t sure. I’d heard vaguely that they were going up, but I didn’t know what that was, or what the story was.

We knew there was going to be the battle and we knew that Jamie was going to die. I had perhaps thought there was going to be more of the mystical healing stuff involved. Your job as an actor is to take what you’ve been given, and do the best you can with it and put your heart and soul into it. That’s what we tried to do. We give it now to the fans, and they take from it what they will and hopefully they’ll be satisfied.

I went in hoping that his fate would change in some way.

Heughan: It was always that he was going to die.

Balfe: But, I mean, they opened their eyes. I guess that’s the other thing. None of us really know exactly what that means. Is it that they’ve opened their eyes in reality, or they’ve opened their eyes in a heaven?

Right. So, what did you make of that moment?

Balfe: I don’t really know still. Sam and I have just seen it, so I think we also need time to process it. You see things once and you’re like, “OK ...” I don’t know, Sam, do you have thoughts?

Heughan: Maybe what Matt said is up for interpretation. It’s where you want to leave Jamie and Claire — are they together forever? Of course, they are. But is it in this world or the next? Who knows? The stone that they’re lying on is the stone from the circle. It’s cool with the Easter egg there. But as for what it means, maybe ask me in another 12 years’ time and I’ll tell you,

We knew the Battle of Kings Mountain was coming. That it would be a demanding battle. And the triumph of it all is short-lived when Jamie is shot. What stands out from filming that whole sequence?

Heughan: It’s the inevitable coming. You can almost say it’s the journey up the hill — it’s coming, it’s coming! That moment just before, where they think they won the battle, and he’s still alive, and they look at each other and they’re like, “We did it. We survived.” Then, of course, there’s the gunshot, which we’re all expecting. I think it’s a beautiful moment where Claire holds her heart, she feels it. Once Jamie’s died and Claire is grieving, I think Caitriona is really beautiful there, and it’s really emotional stuff. It’d been such a long journey. I knew Jamie was on this journey — the whole last season — and we knew that the show was ending. In some ways, there was a relief that I’d been shot, a relief that journey was over. I’m just glad to be sharing it with Caitriona. There were moments we’re lying on that rock where we were like, “Just leave us here. Leave us here.”

How many takes did Jamie being shot require? How did you find your way into the art of the dying on-screen?

Heughan: We actually did quite a few, just because they were shooting in slo-mo. I don’t know, I watched it back and was like, “Oh, I die a bit funny.”

Balfe: I thought it was great, actually! I thought it was really cool.

Heughan: I was thinking, he falls — remember the fall he does when he first sees Claire again in the print office when she comes back in Season 3? It’s quite similar. Who doesn’t want a great death? And that was definitely a great death. You can see everyone’s reaction. It was really improving.

Caitriona, what stands out for you from filming that?

Balfe: It was all a very intense sequence. We knew this was the climax of the season, the episode, the series. You want to make it as special as possible. I was struggling because there was stuff that was being rewritten from previous episodes that I felt really bled into that stuff, and it was sort of confusing for me because I didn’t feel like I had all the information. When something is so heightened, you feel such a responsibility and a pressure to make it so good; those little things which would normally never niggle you, they can really destabilize you. I do remember really struggling one day, and Sam was amazing. He’s such an incredible co-worker, he came and talked me off a ledge. But it’s harrowing for Claire. It’s the worst thing. I just felt that she was so impotent, and that was what I didn’t know what to do with it because it’s like, surely, she should try and summon something of these powers that maybe she does or doesn’t have. And that wasn’t the direction they wanted it to go. So it was a hard place to find for her. But I think maybe that’s also partially what works, is the fact that she is so impotent.

What was the final scene that you did together?

Balfe: It was one of the first scenes in the episode — Jamie and Claire in the bedroom scene. The conversation, which was a seven-page theme.

That was probably a much more uplifting or sweeter way for you to end this journey?

Balfe: Absolutely. It felt like the right scene. It felt really momentous. As we kept saying it more and more, it felt like it resonated with our journey and with these characters’ journeys. It was very emotional and it was a struggle to get through it. The studio was filling up with people, so there was a buzz in the air, even though we weren’t fully aware of how many people were there. But it felt really momentous.

Heughan: It is really a true representation of the show — Jamie and Claire working out where they’re at with their loves and their losses. It was just a really wonderful scene. And as Caitriona said, it became more and more powerful the more we said [the dialogue]. And the closer we got to them calling final wrap on it, it got very emotional. I’m surprised, in some ways, the scene actually works, because I thought we were just a mess while shooting it. It was very challenging, but there was also a huge release of emotion when we finally did wrap that final scene.

Can you share something that you shot for the finale that didn’t make it in?

Balfe: Oh, I don’t know. It’s a long time ago. I know there was one poor guy who was cast, and they brought him in and they fit him and everything for a scene. It was a dummy scene that they were never going to film. And we were like, “Oh, you can’t do that to this poor guy.”

Heughan: I honestly don’t remember.

Balfe: There’s different versions of when we’re lying on the stone of what happens. It was gonna be edited in one way or another.

In terms of how to interpret the final moments, we must talk about the callback to the first episode — the moment where Frank (Tobias Menzies) sees what we thought was the ghost of Jamie. A lot of viewers remember and wondered if it would come into play in some way. Sam, how did you see that moment?

Heughan: I think it’s something that the viewers and fans have questioned and something I have myself. It perhaps gives a slight, not answer, but it gives you a direction to go in and how you interpret the ending. To see Jamie as perhaps — we call it a ghost, but actually, is it his younger self later on? I just loved it. It was so fun to do that. Put the Season 1 costume on again, to watch that footage, and then have to really enact moments of it. And that was the last thing that I shot. So everyone else had been wrapped throughout the day — Caitriona, Sophie [Skelton, who plays Jamie and Claire’s daughter, Brianna]. Then they were all watching behind the camera. It was emotional, actually. And I think nice to see Jamie seeing Claire from a distance, and perhaps all the possibilities of the stuff that they’ve got coming for them in their future. Or is he remembering things from the past? I’m not quite sure, but I loved it.

I wasn’t sure if it had been shot way back when to save for now or if they brought Tobias back to shoot this or were using past footage of him for that part of it.

Heughan: We used his old footage, but we did have a double for his body,

These days, a TV series is never really over. If Matt calls you in 10 years and says, I have an idea for how to revisit the story of Jamie and Claire. Are you in?

Balfe: Oh, they’d be in their 70s then, wouldn’t they?

Heughan: We’d probably be closer to their age.

Balfe: It’d be like, “Jamie & Claire: The Golden Girls Years.”

Heughan: I guess no one’s ever really dead in this in this show, especially with time travel. Never say never. But it has been a really incredible journey. And I think we’ve both been really feeling it today, more than I thought I would because we’ve had time to process it. I think tomorrow’s going to be very emotional, actually seeing it with the fans, I’m really looking forward to that.

What do you hope fans feel after watching?

Balfe: I hope they feel that [with] this entire series, that we have honored them, and that they can walk away enjoying the entirety of it —and that this [final episode] fits in with all of that. They have been so incredible to us. They have supported our show through so many droughts and all kinds of things. We’re only here because of them. I hope they feel happy.

Heughan: I would say the same. They’ve loved and supported us. And Jamie and Claire’s love is eternal and forever. When I look back, I’m not going to be thinking about the final episode or the final season, really. I’m gonna be thinking about the whole thing in its entirety — from the first episode to the last, it’s been a real pleasure to work on. And a big thank you to the fans.