Outlander Boss Confirms the Filmed Scene That Almost Brought Black Jack Randall Back From the Dead

Outlander has finally wrapped after eight seasons, but the behind-the-scenes stories are just getting started. In a new interview celebrating the series finale, showrunner Matthew B. Roberts and executive producer Maril Davis dropped a bombshell — the creative team actually filmed a scene where Black Jack Randall survives the Battle of Culloden, and it never made it to air.

Actor Tobias Menzies played the dual role of Frank Randall and the villainous Black Jack Randall throughout the show’s run. Black Jack officially met his end in Season 3, dying in Jamie’s arms on the battlefield — but it almost didn’t go down that way.

“We really wanted to keep Black Jack alive, the studio and the network really wanted to keep Black Jack alive,” Roberts revealed to Entertainment Weekly. The team even reached out to Outlander author Diana Gabaldon for her blessing, as they always do before making major story changes. Her response? “I really wish you wouldn’t do that.” So he stayed dead.

But not before the cameras rolled. Sam Heughan, who plays Jamie Fraser, confirmed the scene was actually shot. “You filmed it. I remember, filmed Black Jack’s eyes opening again on the battlefield,” he recalled.

It’s a wild detail — a resurrected villain, a filmed scene, and one author’s firm “no” that changed the entire course of the show.

Menzies did return for the series finale, but only in a limited capacity — lending his voice as Frank Randall reading from a historical novel, Soul of a Rebel. A far cry from what could have been.

As for how Jamie and Claire’s story ended in the Season 8 finale — it’s deliberately left open. Roberts said, “That’s, to me, how stories work. They make you feel a certain way. I don’t want to tell you how to feel.” Even stars Caitríona Balfe and Sam Heughan admitted they don’t “fully understand it,” leaving fans to draw their own conclusions about whether the couple died together, woke up in another realm, or something else entirely.

Outlander is now streaming on Starz.