Starz moving forwards with adaptation of OUTLANDER

Last year, Starz optioned the screen rights to Diana Gabaldon's mega-selling Outlander book series, in which a WWII nurse time-travels back to 18th Century Scotland and finds her life divided between the two time periods. Seven novels have been published in the series so far, along with a four-volume spin-off series. An eighth novel in the main series is forthcoming.

Starz are now moving ahead with the adaptation. Ronald D. Moore (showrunner on Battlestar Galactica and a senior writer and producer on both Star Trek: The Next Generation and Deep Space Nine) will be running the show and heading a writer's room consisting of Toni Graphia (Battlestar Galactica), Matt Roberts (Deep Space Nine) and Anne Kenney (LA Law). Also joining the team is Ira Steven Behr, Moore's former boss at Deep Space Nine and also the showrunner on The 4400 and Alphas.

Whilst the show still hasn't been formally greenlit, the hiring of additional writers suggests that Starz envisages going straight to series on the project in the near future.