Outlander, the genre busting and wildly entertaining Starz series, adapted from Diana Gabaldon’s best-selling books, has built a true fandom over its past five seasons. While many of the TV series that inspire deep devotion tend to be—we’ll just come out with it— a little nerdy, and more than a little male-oriented, Outlander is as riveting as it is relatable. And while fans painstakingly unpack episodes, trade theories about plot points and obsess over the show’s historical underpinnings, it’s ultimately a character-driven enterprise. The action hinges on time-travel, and there’s no shortage of romance, but the appeal of the drama is its expertly-drawn characters—especially its female protagonists. Never stereotypical, the series shows women as the multi-dimensional forces they are. “You know, it’s funny, my knee jerk reaction is always that we’re not setting out to make a statement about women,” says executive producer Maril Davis. “We’re just trying to show women as they are, in their most natural, amazing state.”
Davis herself is the perfect person for the task. A force in her own right—she had a pro soccer career in mind before a knee injury sidelined her—she’s found the perfect home on the show. She got hooked on the book series in 2004, developed it, and fought to bring it to the screen. From the beginning, she’s taken pains to ensure the TV show does the sweeping literary series justice. “I know what a challenge it can be to translate books to the screen–sometimes it doesn’t work as you expect as a fan—but the way Outlander has turned out has been beyond my wildest dreams,” she says.
