All the times Outlander has graced the cover of EW

Ever since the adaptation of Diana Gabaldon’s novels debuted on Starz in 2014, Outlander has graced 11 covers of Entertainment Weekly. Check out why Caitriona Balfe and Sam Heughan make such great cover subjects.

In 2016, Heughan told EW why he and Balfe work so well together on the small screen. “We’ve had to get very close so we do trust each other very implicitly. We’re very lucky that we do have that trust and it comes across to the screen, I guess.” 

For our second cover in 2016, Balfe was asked to reflect on how the drama had been picked up through its fourth season. “It’s daunting. Actors are completely neurotic people. It goes from ‘I would love a steady job’ to ‘Oh God, I have a steady job!’ But to have that stability, and to continue our lives with these characters, is really exciting.”

Of shooting in South Africa, Balfe told EW, “I think it was definitely tough sometimes just because it was hot and that’s something we’re not always used to. And the scripts were quite physically intensive. Either you’re out on the beaches all day or traipsing through a jungle. But I relished the chance to get down and dirty. So it’s good.”

Executive Producer Maril Davis was a laugh riot on the show’s South Africa set, especially when talking about how she was suddenly seeing the crew in shorts. “I was like, ‘Oh my God, you have legs.’ It was like a mini-vacation in some ways because the weather is so much different than what we’re used to in Scotland. I mean, I’ve never seen most of the Scottish crew’s legs before. I have never seen so much leg skin in my life.”

Costume Designer Terry Dresbach told EW she was inspired by Katharine Hepburn in The African Queen and Barbara Stanwyck in The Big Valley when dressing Balfe for her ship scenes. “When we first see Claire, she is all buttoned up and nervous about meeting Jamie for the first time after 20 years,” Dresbach says. “Then we see this slow unraveling into this strong, confident, very sexy woman who is on that boat wearing a white blouse, a big big leather belt, and a billowing skirt. Cait looks amazing in that costume. It’s romantic beyond romantic.”

These 2017 images of Heughan and Balfe were shot in the Rustenberg Gardens in South Africa. It’s a winery, too, so one would hope the day was finished off with a lovely glass of chardonnay.

Dresbach calls this the “saffron gown,” which was used in season 2 for the Palace of Versailles scenes. It was common for people to keep clothes (especially expensive ones!) for decades and decades back in the day.

This cover featuring Heughan and Balfe will be available exclusively at Barnes & Noble stores beginning Tuesday, Nov. 14, or you can purchase it online now. 

To help kick off Outlander‘s fourth season, based on the fourth book in Gabaldon’s best-selling series, EW returned to the drama’s Scotland set to not only chat with Heughan and Balfe but to meet the newest members of the cast — a pair of Northern Inuit puppies that took turns playing Rollo, the half-wolf companion of Jamie’s nephew Ian.

“Throughout the last three seasons, we’ve had them discover each other, go through this honeymoon period, and then try to establish themselves a home,” Heughan tells EW. “This is an opportunity to really ground themselves and find a home together. Certainly, for Jamie, it’s been something that he’s desperately wanted for a long time. He’s always wanted to be the Laird, have his family and settle down. Claire has finally come back to him and now they get this opportunity. Of course, it is Outlander so things don’t run smoothly.”

“This season is really setting up the years to come,” Heughan said of Outlander‘s fourth installment. “We’re really establishing Fraser’s Ridge and this new world.”