"Outlander Season 2" will once again bring Claire Randall played by Caitriona Balfe and husband Jamie Fraser played by Sam Heughan together onscreen. "Outlander Season 2" has 13 episodes and is based on the second book of Diana Gabaldon's "Outlander" series, "Dragonfly in Amber."
USA Today reports that the premiere of "Outlander Season 2" will find Claire and Jamie in France attempting to insinuate themselves and stop both the Jacobite rebellion in France and the Battle of Culloden in Scotland.
Cable network Starz describes Claire and Jamie's run in France and its effect on their marriage. "With the help of his cousin Jared, a local wine merchant, Jamie and Claire are thrown into the lavish world of French society, where intrigue and parties are abundant, but political gain proves far less fruitful," Starz said.
"Altering the course of history presents challenges that begin to weigh on the very fabric of their relationship. However, armed with the knowledge of what lies ahead, Claire and Jamie must race to prevent a doomed Highland uprising and the extinction of Scottish life as they know it."
According to Variety, "Outlander Season 2" will bring in Richard Rankin to play Roger Wakefield and Sophie Skelton to play Brianna, two key characters in "Dragonfly in Amber."
TVLine reports that Starz released a promotional image for the premiere of "Outlander Season 2" with Claire and Jamie hand in hand as they climb up the steps of the Versailles. Most striking are Claire's red gown and the words "Vive les Frasers," or "Long live the Frasers" superimposed upon the image.
According to PeopleStyle, the red dress is on this side of scandalous intentionally and carefully designed by Outlander's on-set designer Terry Dresbach.
"It was very different in Scotland. We did skirts and bodices because we needed to give [Claire] as much mileage out of as few clothes as possible. [Her wardrobe] was very practical from day-to-night dressing and in-season," Dresbach said. "But in the 18th century, a wealthy person would change their clothes multiple times in a day, so every time Claire goes somewhere, she has a new gown, every time Jamie goes somewhere, he has a new costume. We really play with the idea that everything was about fashion for the wealthy - not for the poor."
"It's a high-fashion show - it really is the 18th century version of modern couture with a twist because Claire is not a woman of the 18th century," Dresbach said further. "So we got to play with her clothes a lot. Every time she walks onto camera, everybody should take a gasp. Everybody should say, 'I cant believe she's wearing that!' It's highly dramatic."
In Desbach's own words, Claire's red gown is intentionally "scandalous, powerful and sensual." It also had to be designed to be worn without a corset in alignment with the book.
"That was the biggest task of all because with the nature of construction of clothing in the 18th century, people think that you can see a lot, but you actually can't because it's a corset that's there like an iron, cement wall," Dresbach explained. "So we had to design a dress that Claire would have come up with on her own, where she made the decision that she was going to go without a corset, which would have been a scandal. That's the only way that we could stick to that line in the script that was so important to everybody."
The "Outlander Season 2" premiere is slated for April 9, 2016.
