Outlander finished the second half of Season 7 in the 2025 TV schedule with a finale that was eventful to say the very least, with news breaking shortly after that Sophie Skelton – a.k.a. Brianna MacKenzie – would be getting an award while Caitriona Balfe was in the running for a major category at the Critics Choice Awards. Alas, that was Outlander‘s one and only CCA nomination, and I took the chance to ask Skelton just hours before the ceremony why the Starz drama never gets the awards love it deserves.
As a longtime Outlander fan, I always look through lists of awards nominations in the hopes of seeing the show getting some love. Whether for the acting or the directing or the writing or even composing, I’m always hoping for at least some nominations. That rarely happens, though, and the Critics Choice Award for Best Actress in a Drama Series went to Kathy Bates for Matlock instead of Caitriona Balfe for Outlander.
And I’m not saying that Kathy Bates didn’t deserve the win after her emotional Matlock performances, but I do wish that the major awards ceremonies – Emmys, Golden Globes, and CCAs in particular – at least nominated the show in more categories more regularly. Believe it or not, the show has only ever been nominated for four Emmys, and never in the major categories.
So, when I was fortunate enough to speak with Sophie Skelton on the SCAD TVfest red carpet ahead of her receiving the Lumiere Award, only hours before Caitriona Balfe would find out if she won for Best Actress at the CCAs on February 7, I had to ask for her take on why Outlander just never gets love at awards shows. She shared:
I think [Caitriona] is there today, actually! I mean, I think one thing that’s beautiful about Outlander is that it fits into lots of genres and lots of categories, but I think also that can maybe sometimes be its downfall, because it maybe doesn’t fit. It’s sort of one of a kind, so I think it’s difficult for some people to peg where it fits in. As I say, I think that’s actually a good thing about it, and that means that there’s something in it for everyone.
It’s hard to argue against Sophie Skelton’s stance, as Outlander is more than just a drama since it crosses genres. She also pointed out that it could be a good thing that the show defies normal categories, even if that means a shortage of trophies for the cast and crew of the Starz mainstay. Until there’s a category for dramas that combine drama, romance, war, historical fiction, a period setting, and time travel, Outlander may get no more awards love than the occasional nomination.
Sophie Skelton didn’t seem bothered that the show doesn’t get the kind of critical buzz that has gone to shows like Succession and Game of Thrones, and had a very thoughtful answer when I asked what she was most proud of out of the recently-ended seventh season of Outlander. She said:
I don’t know if it’s [Season] 7 particularly, but just as a whole, just seeing – especially some of the younger fans who’ve come into Outlander and kind of grown up with Brianna – just running into those fans at things like [SCAD TVfest] or press things, and just seeing how much they’ve grown and how much more they can open up about things that they’ve been through and what they’ve learned from Brianna. And I think Brianna is such a strong beacon for so many people, and she’s become a lot stronger. Just to see the fans reflecting that and finding strength through your character is really, really cool.
While Outlander‘s main characters have all gone through pretty horrifying ordeals by this point ahead of the eighth and final season, Brianna has really gone through hell and back a few different times over the years so far. For Skelton, that has resulted in seeing the positive ways that her character’s endurance has affected fans.
We can only hope that Bree catches a break in Season 8 after finally bringing her little family unit back together in the same timeline to end Season 7, but would it really be Outlander if things were too easy for any members of the extended Fraser family? After all, she and her parents aren’t even in the same decade of the 18th century when the final credits rolled on Season 7.
For now, all we can do is hope, wonder, and speculate, as Starz has not yet announced a premiere date for the eighth and final season. Outlander is expected to return one last time before the end of the year, but whether than means the first half of 2025 or closer to December 31 at midnight remains to be seen. As for the shortage of awards nominations and wins… well, congratulations to Sophie Skelton for receiving SCAD TVfest’s Lumiere Award!