Outlander Is Back and Better Than Ever

Far too many shows have overstayed their welcome. Plot twists start feeling tired, characters lose their charm, and viewers move on to shiny new series. Even a show as beloved as Outlander isn't immune—something executive producer Maril Davis points out herself. "We're five seasons in, and with some shows that can start to feel a little stale," she says. But the series, which returns February 19 on Starz, pulls it off.

Outlander season five has all the elements fans love—romance, drama, insane circumstances that keep Jamie and Claire apart—while presenting them in new, refreshing ways. Of course, that's thanks in large part to the source material, Diana Gabaldon's Outlander novels. Season five is based on The Fiery Cross, which finds Claire, Jamie, their daughter Brianna, and her new husband Roger reunited in the American colonies. Their happiness is bittersweet, though, considering they all know the American Revolution is just a few years away. It made this a particularly "challenging" novel to adapt, Davis tells us, but absolutely worth it. "I'm so proud of what we put out there," she says. "People will laugh. They'll cry. There's something for everyone."

Here's what else you need to know about season five...

There are tough times ahead (duh)…

Would it be Outlander without some strife for our beloved characters? Season five starts with Claire and Jamie enjoying the home they've built for themselves and their loved ones in North Carolina—but threats to that security loom large. "Last season was about the meaning of home and the understanding that home is where you are and where your family is, no matter if that family is step-, adopted, whoever that might be," Davis says. "This season the theme is 'What would you do to protect that home?'" Ominous.

...especially for Jamie.

Early on, Governor Tryon orders Jamie to form a militia to find his godfather Murtagh and put down the growing Regulator uprising. It's a tricky spot for the Highlander: He'll lose his land if he disobeys, but he can't betray someone he loves. "Jamie is really caught because he knows this war is coming," Davis says. "He knows he's technically on the wrong side, but he's made a commitment to the crown in exchange for getting land where he can set up and help protect people." It's not just about keeping Murtagh safe anymore, either. "He's made a commitment to all these tenants on his land," she says. "If he goes against that, they'll lose everything. It's a real struggle for Jamie this season, trying to figure out what to do and knowing that he's on the wrong side."

At least there’s a wedding!

It's not all angst and militia talk this season. The season premiere starts with a happy occasion: Brianna and Roger's wedding. For the cast, it was a fun way to bring everyone together. "For us all to be in a scene together is quiet rare," Sophie Skelton, who plays Brianna, says. "So it really did feel like a big family affair. You can feel the love and celebration." Adds Richard Rankin, who plays Roger: "It's not that common in Outlander for everyone to be together and for everyone to be having a good time. So that was a very enjoyable experience. I think the fans are really going to love it."

It's an emotional ceremony—but not too emotional. "Roger and Brianna have a sort of lighthearted, cheeky kind of relationship," Skelton says, "and there's a little smile there, as if to say, 'We're putting on this big spectacle for the family.'" Brianna and Roger are already married in their minds, she says. "They would happily just run off and do it really quietly. I think the big spectacle at Fraser's Ridge, as beautiful as it is, for those two might be slightly uncomfortable. So there's a nice little bit of banter between the two of them, to make the whole wedding a little bit more lighthearted."

And speaking of Brianna and Roger…

"They'll have their bumps along the way, in true Outlander form," Davis promises, "but we'll see a real deepening of their relationship this season." They didn't have much of a courtship in season four—because, you know, drama—so this season will be about their married life and how they navigate raising baby Jemmy together. "I think they're better at communicating with each other now," Skelton says. "There's a security that comes with marriage, knowing you can fight and it'll be okay. So we start to see them battling life together more." That said, she adds, expect things to shake up a bit "toward the middle of the season" for the two.

While season four featured a lot of fighting between the two, this season will be about the foundation that brought them together in the first place. "They're a solid unit," Rankin says. "So whenever you see them being apart, whether it's a disagreement or physically apart, you should be rooting for them to come back together again."

But that strife is what Skelton likes about the characters' relationship. "Jamie and Claire's relationship is amazing, but it's almost this fantastical, ideological relationship that you can look up to," she explains. "Bree and Roger are so real. They fight, they say stupid things, and they're quite complicated. I think it's nice when you can watch flawed people on TV, and find some strength in that in your real life."

But Claire and Jamie are “evolving” too.

"Jamie and Claire would like nothing more in life than to sit in rocking chairs on the porch and relax for the rest of their days," Davis jokes. "But since this is Outlander, that never is going to happen. Things are constantly coming into their life [that] won't let them have peace." Even so, this season will find new ways to push their relationship forward. "It's hard sometimes, as seasons evolved, to show how they're growing together, but this season we see a growing maturity between them and a deepening of their trusting intimacy with each other. Caitriona Balfe and Sam Heughan [who play Claire and Jamie] have done such a great job of showing these things in small ways. They show that they're each other's confidant and how that relationship is evolving."

One person who’s not adjusting well to North Carolina? Roger.

"One of the major plot points for Roger this season—and actually develops into one of the major plot points overall—is the fact that Roger is very much a man out of time," Rankin tells us. "He's not equipped to deal with the 18th century. And as much as Brianna likes to profess to be an 18th-century expert, she's not. They both belong in the ’60s and ’70s." Rankin admits that Roger particularly lacks any sort of viable skills or trade he can use in the 18th century. "In season five he has to come to terms with a lot, and he has to come to grips with being a married man with a family in the 18th century, which is something that he has to really step up to."

And, in some ways, neither is Claire.

The season's theme mentioned earlier—what would you do to protect your home?—will be a factor in Claire's storyline this season. "For Claire, there's this growing frustration that she isn't able to do what she wants to do, in terms of medicine and keeping people safe and healthy," Davis says. "She's dealing with people whose cure is sometimes actually making them worse, with bloodletting and everything else." We'll see how she deals with that as the season goes on—but, if we had to guess, it'll mean some obstacles for the healer along the way.

Most important of all, the show will not gloss over Brianna’s trauma.

Last season Brianna was raped by pirate, smuggler, and Bad Guy Stephen Bonnet. Where some series might drop that storyline as soon as a new season begins, Outlander will continue to show the lasting impact the trauma has on Brianna. "As most trauma victims know and experience, this isn't something that just ends the next day," Davis says. "This is something you carry with you for the rest of your life. Brianna is still is harboring a lot of fear and trauma from that experience with Stephen Bonnet, and we'll see this season how that manifests for her."

"Obviously when Bree came back in time, she went through some horrific things," Skelton says. "Obviously she's still suffering from PTSD. I just really hope that in some way that helps people who've been through anything similar—for people to be able to watch a character go through something and then see them start to heal. I really hope that fans can take some strength away from that."

Anna Moeslein is a senior editor at Glamour.

Originally Appeared on Glamour