Outlander season 5 returns: Everything you need to know

Outlander is finally returning to our screens with the hugely anticipated fifth season. Here’s what you need to know before it airs.

Droughtlander is finally coming to an end – with the new season 5 hitting streaming in Australia tonight.

After a nailbiting ending to season 4 last year, the much anticipated time-travelling drama Outlander will return to our screens on Foxtel tonight, airing on Fox One at 7.30pm or available to stream any time.

The show, which has become renowned for its wild sex scenes, will continue with Diana Gabaldon’s fifth novel The Fiery Cross, following the Frasers as they seek to settle into pre-revolutionary America.

So ahead of next week’s premiere, we’ve rounded up the main events over the last four seasons – and what to expect when the new one hits out screens next week.

WHEN AND WHERE IS SEASON 5 AVAILABLE?

Season 5 will be available to watch on Foxtel’s Fox One at 7.30pm AEDT Mondays, with new episodes dropping weekly.

New episodes can also be streamed any time via Foxtel’s on demand library.

WHAT CAN WE EXPECT FROM SEASON FIVE?

Sam Heughan and Caitriona Balfe in a scene from season 5 of the TV series Outlander. Picture: Foxtel

It will be based on Diana Gabaldon’s fifth Outlander book, The Fiery Cross.

Keep some tissues handy with the new season set to be packed full of emotional moments.

Most importantly, it looks like Jamie Fraser (Sam Heughan) is set to once again don a kilt.

The Sun reported how Heughan had sent fans wild as the new season 5 teaser revealed Jamie donning a kilt.

Trailers so far seem to hint that the season will mostly follow the trials and tribulations of the Fraser family.

Network Starz’s synopsis for season 5 reads: “As Claire knows all too well, friends, neighbours and countrymen are unwittingly marching towards Revolution, with members of the elite ruling classes struggling to stifle the alarming undercurrent of unrest triggered by the Regulator movement.

“Against this backdrop, which soon heralds the birth of the new American nation, Claire and Jamie are forced to ask themselves just how far they are willing to go to protect their home and praying there will be no reason to light the fiery cross, an ancient Scottish call to arms.”

Bree will struggle emotionally and physically in the upcoming season, as Sophie Skelton who plays her previously revealed.

Starz promised the dynamite duo will “fight time, space, and history to protect their family” in a teaser trailer for the latest season.

Outlander is back for the 5th season Feb 17. Get a 10-day free trial* on Foxtel Now

WHAT’S HAPPENED IN OUTLANDER SO FAR?

Outlander is based on a time travel series of novels of the same name by Gabaldon.

Season 1:

The debut season follows married WWII nurse Claire Randall.

While visiting Scotland with her husband Frank, Claire is carried from the standing stones at Craigh na Dun back in time to 1743 where she encounters her husband’s cruel ancestor Captain Jonathan “Black Jack” Randall and Highlander Jamie Fraser and becomes embroiled in the Jacobite risings.

Jamie marries Claire to protect her, and they end up falling in love.

Seemingly stuck in the past, Claire tries to warn the Highlanders against pursuing a rebellion – knowing that the Jacobite cause will fail.

Jamie is later captured and tortured by Randall. Claire later rescues him with the help of some Highlanders, and they escape to France. Season 1 concludes as Claire reveals she is pregnant.

Season 2:

In the second season, Claire and Jamie try to stop the Jacobites in France.

Despite Jamie becoming the confidante of Charles Stuart, the Frasers fail. Claire loses their baby, as Jamie faces and works through the aftermath of his torture at the hand of Randall.

The Frasers return to Scotland.

Ahead of the Battle of Culloden, Jamie attempts to convince Claire, once again pregnant, to return to her own time. She does so, and returns to her husband Frank, who asks her to forget Jamie and raise her child as his own.

Jamie decides to die at the Battle of Culloden.

In the future, Claire returns to Scotland with her grown-up daughter Brianna following Frank’s death.

It concludes with Claire discovering Jamie survived the battle – and she vows to return to him.

Claire and Jamie in season 2.

Season 3:

Jamie survives the Battle of Culloden after killing Randall. He is spared execution and taken to Ardsmuir Prison.

There he befriends Lord John Grey, who later paroles him to work at an English estate. While there, Jamie is blackmailed into a sexual relationship and fathers an illegitimate son, William.

He later returns to Scotland and becomes a printer.

In the future, Claire moves to Boston, Massachusetts to raise Jamie’s daughter Brianna with Frank – although their relationship quickly falls apart.

Years later, Frank decides to divorce Claire and, following an argument over Brianna, is involved in a car accident that kills him.

Following the events of the season 2 finale, Claire begins her investigation into Jamie’s whereabouts with the help of Roger Wakefield and daughter Brianna.

Jamie is eventually tracked down in 18th century Edinburgh – and Claire makes the decision to leave Brianna and return to him.

Jamie. Enough said.

Meanwhile, Jamie has married Laoghaire. Claire’s return nullifies their union, as it is illegal. But Jamie and Claire are forced to retrieve hidden treasure to placate Laoghaire with a settlement.

Their attempts go awry – as Jamie’s nephew Ian is kidnapped by pirates and taken to the Caribbean.

The Frasers follow and eventually rescue him from Geillis, who escaped burning at the stake in season 1.

The season concludes as Jamie and Claire set sail for Scotland but end up shipwrecked on the coast of Georgia.

Season 4:

In the most recent season, the Frasers attempt to return to Scotland with Fergus, Marsali and Young Ian.

They inevitably decide to stay and make a new life on a piece of land they call Fraser’s Ridge.

Later, Jamie is reunited with Murtagh, the leader of the Regulator movement.

In the future, Brianna rejects Roger’s marriage proposal. After learning her parents will die in a fire, Brianna travels through the stones – and Roger follows her. They both make their own way to the colonies.

Roger and Brianna meet in Wilmington, North Carolina and enter into a handfast marriage but fight afterwards. The pair separate and Brianna is attacked by Stephen Bonnet.

Season 4 was a nailbiter.

Brianna is reunited with her parents but later discovers she is pregnant.

Roger’s attempt to reunite with Brianna goes awry when he runs into Jamie, who believes Roger is responsible for the attack on Brianna. He beats him before Young Ian sells him to the Mohawk.

When the mistake is discovered, Young Ian, Claire and Jamie attempt to rescue Roger – and succeed when Ian trades his freedom for Roger’s.

Roger and Brianna are reunited as Jamie receives instructions from the governor to kill Murtagh, who is a fugitive.

HOW CAN I WATCH THE FIRST FOUR SEASONS?

All previous seasons are available to watch now on Netflix.

Seasons 1 to 4 had 13 episodes each, seasons 5 and 6 will air for a reduced 12.

This article originally appeared on The Sun and was reproduced with permission