Photo: April Steele
The speculation is over!
Diana confirmed it via CompuServe:
Well, now…according to the Official Language that was suggested to me yesterday when they told me to go ahead and post the news that Scottish actor Sam Heughan has been chosen to play Jamie Fraser in the new Starz cable-TV series (it’s not a movie, it’s not a mini-series, it’s regular series television, but on a subscription channel)……
“I can’t confirm if the contracts are signed and he is officially Jamie Fraser but I can say Sam Heughan did audition. He was and is my top choice!”
…
This was after the Starz_channel Twitter account sent out a cheery little tweet yesterday urging people to “Follow @Heughan, who is to play Jamie Fraser on the new Outlander series!”Which kind of caused Mass Consternation <cough>, to put it mildly, among all the PR people who had been planning press releases and controlled rollouts, etc.
Enough people saw that tweet–during the half-hour or so it was up –that the news was spreading like hair-oil on a sofa, so Ron Moore told me to go ahead and let the cat all the way out of the bag, via Facebook and Twitter. (When I looked a moment ago, there had been 350,000 views of the original posting, and about the same (collectively) for the three followups.) ~ Diana Gabaldon
So, it shouldn’t be overlong before we find out who will play Claire to Sam’s Jamie, ken?
outlanderfan.com 
Anonymous said,
July 9, 2013 at 10:50 am
I’m so glad. He’s the perfect Jamie.
Linda Schultz said,
July 9, 2013 at 11:03 am
Finally the masses can take a breath. It has been so exciting and yet we have held our collective breaths until this moment. Thank you for keeping us in the loop. Now onward to the rest of the cast!!!!
OutlanderFan said,
July 10, 2013 at 10:33 am
Thank you Linda, it’s truly my pleasure 🙂
Janice Egleston said,
July 9, 2013 at 11:37 am
Ya, hard to keep those cats in bags…very fun to watch all the angst and hand-wringing over choices but it’s done now and I for one am satisfied…Enjoy the world of clan Fraser, Sam!
Gina0412 said,
July 9, 2013 at 11:49 am
Great choice for Jamie…can’t wait to see who is Clare…
OutlanderFan said,
July 10, 2013 at 10:33 am
I KNOW!
Elizabeth Cook-Jewett Richards said,
July 9, 2013 at 1:54 pm
Oh Sam welcome 🙂 they really are lovely stories and you must have done well for the author to tell us all a bit off on your behalf
OutlanderFan said,
July 10, 2013 at 10:33 am
If only we could get our paws on those audition tapes!
Eleivana said,
July 9, 2013 at 2:26 pm
This actor’s birthday is April 30th- A Taurus. Isn’t Jamie in Outlander a Taurus? One more plus for him I guess.
Mariana Fonseca (@mari_fonseca) said,
July 9, 2013 at 2:57 pm
I really loved their choice for Jamie! I hope they’ll equally please uss with a nice Claire (yes, I want curly hair and “whisky-colored” eyes and I don’t care if the actress will need to use hot iron on her hair or contact lenses).
OutlanderFan said,
July 10, 2013 at 10:31 am
The power of hair, makeup & contacts lol
Elizabeth Cook-Jewett Richards said,
July 9, 2013 at 3:12 pm
Jamies is May 1 I believe
dixielandmomma said,
July 10, 2013 at 8:00 am
According to The Outlandish Companion he was born on May 1, 1721 so yes, he is a Taurus.
OutlanderFan said,
July 10, 2013 at 10:32 am
So is Sam- his bday is April 30th
OutlanderFan said,
July 10, 2013 at 10:31 am
Yes, May 1st- and Sam is April 30th…Nice.
Anonymous said,
July 10, 2013 at 9:59 pm
Glad you pick someone from Scotland. Just tell your hairdresser to please get his hair color right and the MacKensie green eyes.
OutlanderFan said,
July 11, 2013 at 6:40 am
He has Fraser-blue eyes…lol
Dinna Fash, There’s the Two of Them Now… | outlanderfan said,
September 24, 2013 at 8:54 am
[…] Sam’s casting was announced July 9th, and knowing that production was supposed to begin mid-September, we expected news of our leading lady to come ‘any day now.’ After all, they had to rehearse, right? […]