Before viewers are whisked away to the Scottish Highlands in Starz‘s upcoming Outlander prequel series, Outlander: Blood of My Blood, the cast and creatives dropped by TV Insider and TV Guide Magazine’s studio at San Diego Comic-Con to tease what’s ahead.

For those less acquainted with the franchise, Outlander follows World War II combat nurse Claire (Caitriona Balfe) as she’s whisked away through time at the standing stones of Craigh Na Dun, placing her in the path of 18th-century Highlander warrior Jamie (Sam Heughan). Their epic love story spans centuries as they’ve come up against war and separation, and faced triumphant reunions.

Blood of My Blood will explore two romances, the first being between Claire’s parents, Julia (Hermione Corfield) and Henry (Jeremy Irvine), in World War I England, and the second being Jamie’s parents, Brian (Jamie Roy) and Ellen (Harriet Slater). But as fans saw in the show’s official trailer, there’s a time-traveling twist that will send Julia and Henry to Brian and Ellen’s time.

“The idea came from the Outlander books,” executive producer Matthew B. Roberts revealed. “There’s a lovely thread about Ellen and Brian… about how they elope and they get married and move to Lallybroch and they have kids, one of them being Jamie.”

“So we started looking at spinning it off and doing a prequel, and the thought of doing just that story wasn’t quite enough for his full series. And I asked the question, what if Henry and Julia didn’t die in the car crash? What if they live?” Roberts added.

The idea was so exciting to fellow executive producer Maril Davis, that she was on board immediately. “I was like, ‘Oh my God, that’s brilliant!’” Davis recalled. “But I also love the idea that Matt told me that somehow this meant that Claire’s parents and Jamie’s parents meeting and their storylines intersecting meant that Jamie and Claire were brought together in a way. So I think that is such a lovely continuation of the story.”

In other words, Jamie and Claire fans will be hooked by this captivating new series. Davis and Roberts were joined on the couch for the interview by stars Roy, Slater, Corfield, Rory Alexander, Sam Retford, and Séamus McLean Ross.

Maarten de Boer

Roy opened up about bonding with Outlander‘s leading man, Sam Heughan, “We talked on the phone for maybe like 20 minutes for a time just before we started production, and then I met him for the first time, I think probably halfway through production. My purpose of meeting him was to get to know him and pick his brain about some stuff. But honestly, I think we probably talked shop for like five minutes or something, and then we just started talking about completely random stuff like, I don’t know, climbing mountains and whiskey.”

Meanwhile, Corfield teased Julia’s likeness to Claire, “Julia is a woman who lives on her wits and her resourcefulness, and she has to because she’s put into some very wild scenarios.”

“You’ll see her pivoting and constantly using her intelligence to save herself over and over and over again… emotionally and physically,” Corfield added. Similar to Claire, the star noted that “as much as [Julia]’s practical, she believes in the fantastical as well.”

On the other side of that is Jamie’s mom, Ellen, who Slater said, “Should have been laird, really. The only reason she isn’t is because she’s a woman.” Slater added, “She is very strong-willed, very smart. Similar to Julia, she uses her intelligence to engineer situations. Because she’s a woman, she cannot say what she wants to say most of the time or do what she wants to do. So she has to find other ways to save herself.”

See what else the stars are teasing in the full video interview above, and don’t miss Outlander: Blood of My Blood when the show arrives on Starz.

Outlander: Blood of My Blood, Series Premiere, Friday, August 8, 8/7c, Starz 

—Reporting by Kate Hahn