Outlander: Lauren Lyle, César Domboy on What Perils Await Fergus and Marsali in Final Season

[Warning: The following contains spoilers for the premiere episode of Outlander Season 8. Read at your own risk!]

Outlander couldn't go on its farewell tour without checking in on everyone's favorite Frasers not named Jamie and Claire, and the eighth and final season doesn't make fans wait long.

Early in the Season 8 premiere, Claire (Caitriona Balfe) and Jamie (Sam Heughan) wake to the sound of a house full of kids in Savannah, having crashed with Jamie's adopted son Fergus (César Domboy) and his wife Marsali (Lauren Lyle). It is the first time audiences have seen the pair since midway through Season 6 when they decided to move their family away from Fraser's Ridge to put distance between themselves and their problems. Fergus had struggled with depression and guilt (and a drinking problem) after their son Henri Christian was born as a dwarf. The wee bairn had faced persecution from the local Protestants, who cursed his condition and nearly killed the child by putting him in a basket and sending him downriver. Hoping new scenery and a fresh community might alleviate their worries, they relocated and haven't been seen since.

Although it's a short visit, Claire and Jamie gather around the table for a breakfast of cookies with their grandchildren before heading home. It is a brief glimpse — for now — into a much happier existence for Fergus and Marsali than the last time the family was together. But for Domboy and Lyle, returning to these characters after several years away came with varying degrees of comfort and shock.

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"It felt super natural because even if we weren't part of Season 7, It feels like we have ties with the family," Domboy says. "They're so strong that it felt like we were this couple that just went to live abroad and then came back home. It was amazing to be reunited with our friends, with the cast, and to feel like a Fraser again, you know?"

Lyle, who has since gone on to lead her own ITV detective series Karen Pirie, says it took a minute to get her bearings as she slipped back into the world of Outlander.

"God, it was so strange," she says. "It was like everything had changed, but nothing had changed at all. So much in my personal life changed. I have my own show now as well, so to come back was like coming back to my family. To be reminded of the cinematic nature of these sets was crazy."

Even after filming began, the one thing they both couldn't get over was how much their on-screen children had grown.

"We had the same kids that we'd had three or four years before, who were actually grown up now," Lyle says, still a little baffled by their growth spurt. "I was talking to César about that, and it was actually helpful to see that these kids had grown so much because it feels like we had grown in that sense. It was almost like they'd gone off to boarding school and then we'd got them back."

Fergus and Marsali haven't gotten such a break. As parents to four children, Domboy says they are overwhelmed but stronger than ever. "By the end of the season, there are some really lovely moments of them being in love like they were in the early days, and having this wit about them. It's nice to portray this type of couple, that is still playful and, despite being parents, still have this youth and this innocence."

Lyle says the Marsali in the premiere is more "relaxed as a mum," having picked up the slack when Fergus was struggling back at Fraser's Ridge. "Marsali was really left on her own to handle everything, but I think you find her now in a much happier place. They've got more of their own life, and it's a lot more equal. Marsali and Fergus are a real example of an equal partnership, especially when they are not time travelers. They are people of their time." 

Since audiences last saw them, Fergus has started his own printing press, having run one with Jamie in Edinburgh, and Marsali helps keep the shop and the house running smoothly. Seeing Fergus happy and thriving even in a time of war was heartening for Domboy, considering the Frenchman was floundering when he exited in Season 6. But he also can't deny the  predilection for revolution engrained in the French, even those raised by way of colonial North Carolina. When Jamie discovers Fergus is secretly printing revolutionary materials through his press, he fears for his son while also being proud of him.

"He is absolutely influenced by Jamie in his life, but he also is a Frenchman at heart," Domboy says. "There's this seed of a revolutionary in him, and that is what I love about Fergus. He was adopted. He followed Jamie and all, but he's also really thinking on his own and making his own decisions. That's how he became happier in life. Just embodying and empowering himself with principles and ideas, and it suits him to have an opinion. Printers back in the day were just the cornerstone of all that. You had to have a printer if you wanted your revolution to work."

But don't expect Marsali to sit out the American Revolution just because they have a little army at home. Lyle says all the way back in Season 4, when Fergus was working with Murtagh (Duncan Lacroix) in the early days of the Regulator Rebellion, she was already eager to jump into the action. That spark hasn't flamed out, and she gets it honest.

"She's still the lioness of the family," Lyle says. "I don't think that'll ever change. She's actually quite a tactical beast. When it comes to war, she's happy to play her part and fight for the side that she believes in. She's almost become more of a Laoghaire in some ways, and those qualities of her mother are naturally coming through. I always think about the fact that Laoghaire is her mum. That's blood, in terms of nature versus nurture. Marsali does by nature have Laoghaire in her. So she's still got that bite about her, which I really love."

Fergus and Marsali will have to lean on the stability and strength they have forged in recent years when they show back up in the final season, which, without spoiling anything from author Diana Gabaldon's books, will test them in ways they couldn't expect. Domboy says certain events will leave Fergus looking to his past in France for guidance, and whether he really wants to know where he came from.

Marsali, meanwhile, will have to muster those fighter instincts for what's ahead.

"She is about to have probably the hardest thing ever happen to her, and I think it's actually an amazing example of what could happen for women in that time. But Marsali and Ferguis have positioned themselves quite well, and Marsali has educated herself and skilled herself to be able to handle the world. She's gonna be putting a lot of those skills into practice. I think basically her life and their life will always be a fight."

Outlander airs 9/8c on Fridays on Starz. New episodes stream on the Starz app starting at midnight on Fridays.