Time-jumping series Outlander premiered last summer on Starz to record numbers – with a free preview, viewership shot from a live audience of 700,000 to more than 3.7 million in one week.

At PaleyFest 2015, the show’s panel proved that intense and devoted viewership has not slowed down.

On March 12 in Hollywood, the 2015 PaleyFest presentation for Starz’s Outlander started out when E! News’ Kristin Dos Santos asked a packed house: “Was it worth the wait?” The audience erupted.

The show’s midseason break is about to end April 4, and the show’s fans could not be happier. Starz brought a series of books to life last August from best-selling author Diana Gabaldon and the story has created a firestorm of not only fandom, but also a new leading man on TV and historical queries galore.

The PaleyFest panel hosted showrunner Ron Moore and stars Caitriona Balfe (Claire Randall), Sam Heughan (Jamie Fraser) and Tobias Menzies (Black Jack/Frank Randall). After playing a quick drinking game of “Ne’er Have I E’er” with Outlander-branded whiskey, the cast discussed natural chemistry, upcoming episodes and the historical aspect of a time-jumping show.

“I’ve never seen two people do such courageous things onscreen before,” said Gabaldon, speaking about the second half of season one about to come.

“I wrote Outlander to learn how to write a novel,” said Gabaldon, “and along the way I got published.” Gabaldon added that her fans have been waiting for more than 20 years to see a TV version of her story, and that she was just waiting for her Claire and Jamie – when she met Balfe and Heughan, she knew she could continue.

Dos Santos, referencing the cast’s admission that they have yet to read Gabaldon’s entire series, asked if they were worried about what was about to happen to their characters.

“I probably wouldn’t have signed up if I had known,” said Menzies. Heughan “sped-read” a few books and Googled some scenes, but hasn’t read too far into the future.

Dos Santos, calling Claire and Jamie a “trans-century couple,” went on to play a quick Outlander version of The Newlywed Game as well, proving how close the small cast has become so far.

Moore and Gabaldon also speak to adapting the book series to TV, using “good material to work from and good writers to work with” in order to flip certain scenes, move characters around in scenes and mirror some scenes perfectly while straying from plot points as little as possible.

“As you go through the process of adaptation, you start to make natural changes because they just are different art forms,” said Moore. “The intent is to continue to stay as consistent to the story as we can.”

Find out how close they stay to the source material when Outlander returns April 4 on Starz.

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