Outlander: First trailer for TV series unveiled

Sam Heughan as Jamie Fraser in the Outlander TV series. Picture: AP

Ron Moore, who has masterminded hit shows like Star Trek and Battlestar Galactica, also promised the fans of the best-selling Outlander books that the TV programme of the same name would remain faithful to author Diana Gabaldon’s work.

Moore was speaking at a major TV industry event in Los Angeles at which the first official trailer for the series, which airs in the United States in July, was screened.

Moore said the current plan was to adapt one Outlander book per season of the show, which focuses on the adventures and romantic entanglements of a married British Army nurse from 1945, and an 18th century warrior, played by Dumfriesshire actor Sam Heughan. Arizona-born Gabaldon - who revealed at the weekend she will be making a cameo appearance in the first series - has penned seven Outlander novels to date, selling more than 25 million books worldwide.

The 16-part show has been filming in Scotland since the autumn, with the production thought to be worth at least £20 million to the economy.

Doune Castle, in Perthshire, was chosen for the main location, with Historic Scotland agreeing to close the attraction for a month to accommodate an initial round of filming.

Speaking about the series of books, Moore said: “My job is to interpret and develop it for another audience.

“My role is not reinventing but adapting it. There is an audience for it and a dedicated fan-base who have read these books for years.

“I take that obligation seriously. I want to give them their story, but I have to translate it and tell a story.

“The general scheme is one season, one book. There will be 16 episodes for the first season, and it will cover the entire first book.”

Moore learned that there had been an earlier attempt to translate Outlander into a big-screen film when he was looking into securing the rights for Gabaldon’s work.

He added: “I read it and my immediate take was that it’s a TV show. I didn’t understand what the two-hour version of this was.

“When we sought out the rights, they were trying to develop a feature but couldn’t make it work ... it’s too big. Outlander about the world and taking your time with the story, and you could only do that with a series.”