And so the Droughtlander begins. "Outlander" Season 2 held its heartbreaking but hopeful Season 2 finale on Saturday, and the cast and crew have yet to start filming Season 3. But fear not, showrunner Ronald D. Moore told The Hollywood Reporter that "the fans can have [the new season] sooner than what they think. The Droughtlander won't be as long as they expect."

Season 1 launched its 16 episodes in August 2014, and Season 2 ran 13 episodes starting April 2016. There's no word yet on when Season 3 will premiere, but Moore did share plenty of updates on the plan for adapting "Voyager," the third book in Diana Gabaldon's series.

Here's a piece of Ron Moore's post-finale interview with The Hollywood Reporter:

THR: How far into planning season three are you?

We're pretty well into it. We have scripts for the first few episodes and stories broken somewhere into 10 episodes. We're already in pre-production in Scotland. We probably won't start shooting until late August, early September.

THR: What storyline are you most excited to bring to life in season three?

It would be great to do the ships. I'm a big ship person. I mean, my company name is Tall Ship Productions. It would be fun to get to do rigged ships and go on sea voyages and go to Jamaica. It will be a big blast to do this new chapter in the saga.

Deadline mentioned that Season 2 made some "strategic changes" from the second book, "Dragonfly In Amber," and their questioning continued from there.

DEADLINE: Are you planning on taking a similar approach with the Voyager book and Season 3?

Yeah, some things get moved around, but the third book is not nearly the same challenge as the second book is. Voyager is a little bit more of a straight-ahead narrative and the adaptation process has already proven easier in the writers room because the structure is a little bit more straightforward.

Even in the first season we resequenced things and moved certain elements around, so that's just part of doing an adaptation, but it's just not as big a hill to climb in the third season, so we're all feeling pretty optimistic and pretty good about where the third season is taking us.

DEADLINE: Where are you guys in terms of production and the writers room on Season 3?

The writers room is well underway, and we have scripts for the first two, three episodes. We've broken stories up to like Episode 8, 9 or 10, and we're in that range right now in the writers room, which we don't have formal outlines and all, but we've been actively breaking stories. So we have a pretty good sense of where the balance of the season is going. We're in preproduction at the moment. We won't start shooting again until late August, early September.

Here's more on the production and filming front from Moore to Entertainment Weekly:

EW: Are you starting production on Season 3 any sooner this year?

We're ramping up now. We are working on scripts and stories. We will probably be on an accelerated overall production schedule now that we have two season pickups. So we can start actively planning season 4 as opposed to waiting for a pickup. Season 3 is a traveling show. It starts in Scotland, but then it's a sea voyage. There are pirates. It's in Jamaica. It's in the New World. And book 4 is in the New World and suddenly in North Carolina. So having the ability to make long range plans about where we are shooting certain elements and where we want to dedicate resources is enormously helpful in planning the show.

EW: Can you say where Season 3 will be shot?

Our home base will always be Scotland. We're looking at various options for where to shoot the ships and where to find tropical beaches and jungles to play the Caribbean section of the story. Hopefully, we'll find a place that has both things at once so we'll only have to make one big trip for the company.

Ships! Pirates! Jamaica! We are ready for the voyage ahead. In the meantime, fans can just keep reliving heartbreaking finale moments like this:


And God, we love them both well!

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