Starz greenlights second Outlander

Outlander, Starz’s new fantasy drama, has had a second season greenlit following the Ron D. Moore show’s debut last week.

Sony Pictures Television is returning to produce the second season, which will be at least 13 episodes and be based on Diana Gabaldon’s second book in the Outlander series, Dragonfly in Amber.

The drama launched on August 9 in the US on premium cable, where Starz claim – using its own stats and Nielsen audience figures – that it set multiplatform viewing figures that passed five million overall views. Episode two went out on Saturday (August 16).

“The overwhelming support Outlander has received from the fans, viewers and critics made the decision for us to go ahead with the second book a very easy one,” said Starz CEO Chris Albrecht. “Diana Gabaldon has given us years of great drama.”

The series follows a married combat nurse from 1945 that is mysteriously swept back to Scotland in 1743. Sci-fi producer Moore (Battlestar Galactica, pictured) produces through his Tall Ship Productions imprint along with Story Mining And Supply Company and SPT-owned Left Bank Pictures. SPT produces in association, and will again take international sales rights. Starz holds multiplatform domestic pay TV rights.