Outlander‘s Season 6 Theme Song Puts Its Twist on a Classic

One of the most anticipated aspects of any new season of Starz’s Outlander series is what form the theme music will take. The original “Skye Boat Song”—a Scottish folk ballad adapted by Bear McCreary for the show—included bagpipes, naturally. In Season 2 French lyrics were added, and in Season 3 there was a Caribbean influence. Another change in setting for Season 4 brought us an American pickers version, while Season 5 delivered a soulful choir. And now, we can share with you the theme music for Season 6: a (mostly) a cappella duet that includes the word “lad” instead of “lass” for the first time:

This new version of the theme wasn’t an instant hit with me, but after some repeated listens I started to like it more, especially once the two voices come together towards the end. My favorite Outlander themes are the the rousing ones rather than mournful, but I’ll always be especially partial to the bagpipes of the original version.

In case you missed it, Starz also recently announced the Season 6 premiere date (March 6th) and released the first image for the upcoming season at a launch event for the ninth book in author Diana Gabaldon’s Outlander series, Go Tell the Bees That I Am Gone. All of this coupled with the new theme song makes it feel like the show should be back any day… but we sadly still have several months of winter to get through first!

Stay tuned for more from Outlander in the coming months, including (hopefully soon) a trailer that will tell us more about what we’ll see in Season 6. For now, the gorgeous images in this intro will have to tide us over.

Outlander returns to Starz on Sunday, March 6th at 9 p.m.

For all the latest TV news, reviews, lists and features, follow @Paste_TV.