What Will Happen in 'Outlander' Season 6? Cast Tease 'Jam-Packed' New Series

The highly anticipated Season 6 of Outlander begins on Starz on Sunday, March 6. After nearly two years, the "droughtlander" is almost over and fans cannot wait to see what is in store for the Frasers and their friends at Fraser's Ridge in North Carolina.

The new season is based on A Breath of Snow and Ashes, the sixth novel in Diana Gabaldon's series, and follows the residents of Fraser's Ridge as the revolution approaches. Sticking close to the source material, Season 6 of Outlander will also see the arrival of a new enemy: the Christie family, headed by Tom Christie who met Jamie Fraser at Ardsmuir in 1752.

The cast of Outlander, including Sam Heughan, Richard Rankin, Sophie Skelton, Lauren Lyle, and César Domboy, spoke to Newsweek about what fans can expect from Season 6.

What Will Happen in 'Outlander' Season 6?

Jamie and Claire Fraser

In Season 6 of Outlander, Claire (played by Caitriona Balfe) and Jamie (Sam Heughan) will face the outbreak of the Revolutionary War.

Claire is also trying to recover from the brutal assault she suffered at the end of Season 5, when she was kidnapped, raped and beaten by several men led by Lionel Brown (Ned Dennehy).

Jamie is struggling with the idea he was not able to protect his wife, as well as facing the threat of revenge from Brown's brother, Richard (Chris Larkin).

He will also come under pressure from King George to side with the British in the impending conflict. After all, he does have a duty to the crown after he was allowed to make his settlement at Fraser's Ridge. However, at the end of Season 5, he renounced his oath after Murtagh Fitzgibbons (Duncan Lacroix) was killed at the hands of the crown.

Heughan told Newsweek: "Claire's still suffering from the trauma and the after-effects of the assault on her and unbeknownst to Jamie, she's starting to self-medicate. He is occupied with the lead-up to the War of Independence. He's being pulled in every direction, certainly by the British to swap sides, and then we have the arrival of the Christies."

Heughan continued: "It's jam-packed this season. It's only eight episodes but somehow I feel like we've managed to fit in even more. Probably for the first time, Jamie and the Frasers, the popularity and the strength that they have and their standing at Fraser's Ridge is really unsettled.

"He's a reluctant leader of men, as we see from flashbacks to Ardsmuir prison, but having this combat with Tom Christie … it really starts to fray the status quo at Fraser's Ridge."

Roger and Brianna

At the end of Season 5, Roger (Richard Rankin) and Brianna (Sophie Skelton) discovered that 18th-century America was their true home. They had attempted to return to the present day using their own gemstones, but wound up back at Fraser's Ridge—a sign that it is where they belong.

Speaking to Newsweek, Skelton and Rankin explained that Season 6 will show Roger and Brianna navigating their new life, alongside their son Jemmy.

Skelton said: "They're just very settled and are a lot stronger as a couple than they have been for a while. And there is their little family, so they tend to feel like the calm in the storm, really, this season. There's chaos going on around them, but they are a beautiful little family. It's a good continuation from being kicked back out of the stones."

Rankin added: "They've come to the realization that the ridge is home. Roger always had the intention of getting back to safety—or what they deem to be safety, you know, the comfort and safety of their own time back in the Sixties—and I think deep down all along that it had been their life with the Frasers.

"Fraser's Ridge had started to become home for them and it was at that point that they truly realized that and I think they've embraced that now and I think there's a happiness. I think they are quite settled in that respect, there's no longer that sort of anxiety, that need to move on. I think it's now a case of 'OK, what do we do now that we are home?' They'll do whatever they need to do to protect it and themselves and their family. I think we see a very different Roger and Bri this season, it's very nice. I really like their relationship this season."

Marsali and Fergus

In Season 6 of Outlander, Marsali (Lauren Lyle) is pregnant with her and Fergus' (César Domboy) fourth child. She is also recovering from the horrific attack in the previous season, when she was kidnapped by Lionel and his men. Like Jamie, Fergus is struggling with guilt that he could not prevent what happened to his wife.

Lyle told Newsweek that viewers could expect some "darkness" and "turmoil" for Marsali and Fergus in Season 6.

She said their relationship "goes from being like a cool, fun young couple who don't fight to some darkness and some turmoil and quite a lot of stress and real-life serious problems. I think we've all come back from Season 5 a little bit traumatized, and everyone's just trying to pick themselves up.

"We are much less of a couple, I guess, in many ways. We've done a lot together in the last seasons and this season, we did not spend a lot of time because Marsali is sort of on her own and Fergus is away day drinking. Marsali is sort of left on her own to deal with everything and she's so young and has so much to handle.

"As well as life on the ridge, she has found her place with Claire and the surgery, and is having to then deal with a family life that she kind of never wanted. As in, the family life becomes something she never wanted."

Domboy said: "There's lots of fighting, lots of healing, lots of parenting and overcoming quite big challenges as parents."

He added: "You would think they're done with their dark days after [Season 5] but when they start Season 6 still Fergus is quite not sorted and he starts day drinking a lot and trying too much of his own whiskey. And then they have something very challenging happen to them that will trigger something worse that they didn't see coming."

Luckily, Outlander fans do not have too much longer to wait to see the drama unfold.

Outlander Season 6 begins on Sunday, March 6, at 9 p.m. ET on Starz