Outlander viewers were a little shocked when Claire Fraser’s (played by Caitriona Balfe) husband Frank Randall (Tobias Menzies) was killed off in earlier seasons.
While it was clear Claire was always going to return to her life with Jamie Fraser (Sam Heughan), it wasn’t as clear as to whether she’d try to work things out with Frank.
Fans know Frank was killed off in a tragic car crash but he still returned to the show in the recent episode Down the Rabbit Hole.
In a Brianna Fraser (Sophie Skelton) focussed episode, Frank was seen years before she met her real father, miserable and melancholic whilst poring over some documents.
These documents told of Claire’s death, which proved to him that Claire would, eventually, return to Jamie and live out the rest of her days with him.
This news obviously left him feeling horrendous, as it became clear Claire would never choose him over Jamie, despite his feelings.
Although a somber moment for Frank, it was a lot more than he got in the source material.
In the books the frankly more vicious Frank was killed off and simply never seen again.
Frank was last seen fighting with Claire over seeing his daughter being taken away, then losing his life in the horrific car crash.
This event left a number of narrative doors wide open – including the relationship between Brianna and Frank, as well as the unfinished business between him and Claire – and he will presumably not see any more scenes in the upcoming books.
READ MORE: Outlander season 5 spoilers: Jamie and Claire Fraser story detail CHANGED – here’s why
Executive producer of the show Maril Davis spoke to The Hollywood Reporter last year about Frank’s character, and even hinted at his return.
She teased: “You might see Frank come to our shores again.
“In the books, there’s often flashbacks of Claire’s relationship and there are moments of Frank and Brianna’s relationship that we didn’t get to see.
“We love Tobias and I know not everyone is team Frank, but he’s so much fun to play with. So yes, we might see him again.”
Despite Frank’s death, Claire has been holding a secret tribute to him for some time now, unbeknownst to Jamie.
It was revealed Claire is still wearing the wedding ring she had from her marriage with Frank.
However she is wearing it on her right-hand ring finger, so to differentiate it from her ring from Jamie.
Although Claire never truly had any bad blood with Frank, could the Scotsman feel betrayed in some way if he found out?
As his wife, there is a good chance Jamie has already noticed and doesn’t mind – but does it leave a door open for Claire and Frank’s relationship?
Outlander season five returns to STARZ and Amazon Prime Video later this year.
