Sinéad O’Connor shares new version of Outlander's 'The Skye Boat Song'

Sinéad O’Connor has shared her version of 'The Skye Boat Song,' the theme for Starz’s historical sci-fi drama series Outlander.

The song will soundtrack the title sequence for the show’s seventh season, which returns this summer. The series is based on the Outlander novel series by Diana Gabaldon.

Developed by Ronald D. Moore, the show premiered on August 9, 2014 and stars Caitríona Balfe as Claire Randall, a former Second World War military nurse in Scotland who, in 1945, finds herself transported back in time to 1743. There she marries a Highland warrior named Jamie Fraser (Sam Heughan), a tacksman of Gabaldon's fictionalised version of Clan Fraser of Lovat and becomes embroiled in the Jacobite rising.

In 2022, development began on a prequel series titled Outlander: Blood of My Blood, which will focus on Jamie Fraser's parents.

The arrangement and performer of the now iconic theme song changes each season, but O'Connor is arguably the most recognisable name they've had put her spin on it to date.

"We are honoured to have Sinéad O'Connor performing 'The Skye Boat Song,'" said showrunner and executive producer Matthew B. Roberts in a statement. "Her rendition is, for me, a reminder of all that's beautiful about Outlander. She is talented beyond measure. Hers is a voice of the ages — one which pierces heart and soul — and embodies the spirit of the show."

The new opening credits sequence features many of the highly anticipated elements of season 7, including the clear presence of British soldiers, glimpses of the first American flag on battlefields, and the arrival of the American Revolution.

After the release of her memoir in 2021, O'Connor said she intended to retire from music, namely recording new music and touring, but she later retracted that statement.

Starz previously announced that an expanded, 16-episode seventh season will premiere this summer. The season brings a host of new characters, including the grown-up version of Jamie's bastard son, William (Charles Vandervaart), and Quaker brother and sister Denzell (Joey Phillips) and Rachel Hunter (Izzy Meikle-Small). Plus, many fan favourites who were absent from previous recent seasons — including Graham McTavish, Nell Hudson, and Steven Cree — are set to return.

Season 7 will mark the series' penultimate season, as Starz recently announced that season 8 will mark Outlander's last.

Nothing Compares, the Kathryn Ferguson documentary that chronicles the singer-songwriter’s career premiered on Showtime last September, after Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Books & Media published her memoir Rememberings in June 2021.

The celebrated Irish singer-songwriter, author and activist's last full length album was 2014’s I’m Not Bossy, I’m the Boss.

Revisit our 2020 interview with O'Connor here.