'Outlander' season 3 news: Diana Gabaldon defends Claire's TV version, says novels could end with 10th book

"Outlander" author Diana Gabaldon has responded to the criticism of the TV series version of her heroine, Claire, who is played on the Starz drama by actress Caitriona Balfe.

The "Outlander" historical drama is based on Gabaldon's similarly titled time travel novel series. The bestselling author stopped by Entertainment Weekly's PopFest on Sunday, Oct. 30, where she spoke about the upcoming "Outlander" season 3 and the future of the "Outlander" novels.

During an interview with EW, Gabaldon, who is known to be incredibly protective of her novels' adaptation to the small screen, was asked about what she thought of the TV version of Claire. While the TV Jamie, who is played by Sam Heughan, has often been criticized for not exactly resembling the original Jamie, Balfe's Claire has garnered much more criticism.

Many avid "Outlander" novel fans have complained that the TV Claire lacks the original's sense of humor, a flaw that Gabaldon attributes to the fact that the TV series does not offer a first-person perspective of the story.

"Caitriona's a great actress, but there's only so much she can do with her face," Gabaldon explained. "You can't film in somebody's head," she added.

The difference between the TV Claire and the novel Claire doesn't seem to trouble the author too much. "Mostly, it doesn't bother people," she said. "For those it does, well, they can just go read the book again. No problem," she continued.

Gabaldon also talked about the novel series and revealed that the epic time travel adventure/romance will probably end with the 10th novel. During the Q&A, an "Outlander" fan asked the author about a pivotal scene in the first book of the series and whether or not it will be explained in "Go Tell the Bees That I Am Gone," the upcoming ninth installment.

In the scene, which occurs at the very beginning of the series, Frank (Tobias Menzies) sees Jamie standing outside the inn where he and Claire are staying. How Jamie was able to time travel to the present and why he was there has yet to be explained.

"It'll be the very last thing in the last book, which I think is probably book 10," Gabaldon said to EW.

"Outlander" season 3 debuts on Starz in 2017.