The “Droughtlander” Before Season 6 Is Going to Be Even Worse Than the Last One

Back when Outlander fans were waiting for Season 5 to (finally) begin, they coined a term for the seemingly never-ending break between seasons: Droughtlander. Now, we (again, finally) have a Season 5, but there’s only one question on everyone’s mind: Is there going to be a Season 6 of Outlander? And if there is, how long is the Droughtlander going to be this time?

We’ll start with the good news: Yes! There is going to be a Season 6 of Outlander. But if you’re a truly dedicated fan of the time-travel-y drama series, you already knew that. Season 6 was technically announced at the same time as Season 5 — way back in May of 2018. Still, it’s nice to know that Season 6 hasn’t been canceled, right?

Now for the bad news: It’s gonna be quite a while before we’re able to watch new episodes of Outlander (after the Season 5 finale airs on May 10, that is). As for exactly how long this Droughtlander will be, it’s pretty difficult to say for sure.

Back in April, Outlander star Sam Heughan revealed during a Twitter Q&A session that work on Season 6 had begun. When asked whether he’d read any scripts for the new season yet, he answered, “We have started... Ep 1!!! So excited. But you’re going to love the rest of this season.” Presumably, that meant that the script for Episode 1 of Season 6 was in progress (or maybe even finished).

Sam’s co-star Caitriona Balfe pretty much confirmed that when she took part in a separate Twitter Q&A session. When someone asked, “Are you able to do anything at all for Season 6? Are the writers writing or breaking the stories into episodes? Just wondered if there’s any prep for you and the other main actors to do,” Caitriona answered simply: “The writers are still at work.”

Later, on May 3, Sam again revealed some insider knowledge about Season 6 — namely, that production has been delayed. “We were supposed to start this week,” he said when asked about the production schedule for Season 6. “We have scheduled for Fall. Will just have to see…”

It obviously doesn’t come as too much of a surprise that the production of the new season has been delayed. With the COVID-19 pandemic still affecting pretty much everything, we knew the Outlander team wouldn’t be able to shoot anything anytime soon. Still, it’s definitely a bummer knowing for certain that we’ll be waiting a while for Season 6 to finally be available.

Assuming production does actually move forward in the fall, we’ll most likely be able to watch Season 6 sometime in (gasp!) 2021. In the meantime, we can always go back and rewatch older seasons of the show (or read the books!). The first three seasons are currently available to stream on Netflix. Alternatively, now would be a great time to start developing your own time-traveling powers — then you wouldn’t have to wait at all!