Caitriona Balfe Talks ‘Outlander’ Series Finale, Future Projects

The final season of “Outlander” hasn’t premiered yet, but Caitriona Balfe has already said her goodbye.

“We sort of said our goodbyes a year and a half ago, and now this is the final goodbye,” says the Irish actress a few weeks before the release of the show’s eighth season, which wrapped filming in fall of 2024. “I think the fans are ready to see it, and I think we’re ready for them to see it as well.”

The actress was recently in New York on a “whirlwind” press trip in January, before returning to the city this week for the red carpet premiere and main press push for the series finale. While Balfe is used to the long breaks between each release — each season takes almost a year to film — this final pause has taken place in a different liminal space. Balfe and her costars won’t be returning to set and their characters.  

“In some ways, it sort of feels like we had this really long hiatus, and now we’re back together,” says Balfe. “Even though a lot of us have seen each other over the last year and a half, having us all together probably hasn’t happened since we wrapped.”

While the popular historical fantasy series is ending, the last season wasn’t approached with finality in mind. “In some ways, yes, it goes to a crescendo, but in other ways there was just a lot of normal life  for Claire and Jamie,” says Balfe, who leads the series with Sam Heughan.

Since “Outlander” first debuted on screens in 2014, Balfe has returned to time-traveler Claire year after year, and grown alongside her character for more than a decade.  

“I started playing her when she was in her late 20s, and I was just in my early 30s. And by the time we finished, she was in her early 60s,” says Balfe, who’s now 46. “I don’t know if I’m able to sum it up succinctly, but she lived within me for over a decade, so I understand — or I feel like I understand — her intimately. As the story progresses, you realize that every season is a different version of her.”

While Balfe has reached the end of Claire’s story in “Outlander,” she’s hasn’t wasted any time in finding her way back on screen. Balfe recently began production for her next project, “The Housekeeper,” a romantic drama set in the 1930s. The film is shooting in and around London, where Balfe currently lives, and the actress is looking forward to staying close to her family.

“My son is only 4-and-a-half, and so I think for me at the moment, it’s always weighing out: OK, well, how much time am I away? Where is it shooting?” she says. “Things are different now when you’re trying to make decisions.” 

Balfe’s other forthcoming projects include biofilm “Tenzing” for Apple TV+, about the sherpa who was part of the first summit of Mount Everest, a film adaptation of Colm Tóibín’s “A Long Winter,” and a new adaptation of “Sense and Sensibility,” slated for a September theatrical release. Daisy Edgar-Jones costars as daughter Elinor Dashwood.

“I feel like I’m always in a period drama,” says Balfe, who also starred in 2021 film “Belfast,” which earned her an Oscar nomination. “But very different periods.” 

Balfe stars as widowed matriarch Mrs. Dashwood, a role portrayed by Gemma Jones in the lauded Ang Lee-directed adaptation of Jane Austen’s novel in 1995. 

“It’s always interesting when people are doing adaptations that have been done before. Like, what can you bring that’s fresh?” says Balfe, describing BAFTA-nominated director Georgia Oakley’s version as “unique and beautiful.”

“Our relation to any of these classic texts changes with our own society changing,” she adds. “Obviously there’s these central themes that are universal, and that’s why we keep going back to these classic texts, because they still have a relevance for us.  But our relationship to them I think changes with time. So I think it’s interesting to see what each new generation’s take on these things are.”

And right now, time is feeling particularly precious — and expansive — for Balfe.

“Having been on a show for over a decade, my time was always so limited as to what I could do,” she says. “And so now I’m like a child in a candy store. I’m just so grateful that I get to do different things,” she adds. “I’m really curious  about what else I can do.”