Bree and Roger may have a huge time-travel problem on their hands in the release on March 6, 2022, Outlander season 6 now has some major explaining to do.
In Outlander season 5, Bree and Roger settle at Fraser’s Ridge with their son Jemmy. While it's believed that Jemmy can travel through time like his parents, when Bree, Roger, and Jemmy attempt to travel back through the stones to the 20th century in the Outlander season 5 finale, the stones refuse them age. The only explanation given is that the stones cannot send them home because the stones recognize that they are already home in the 18th century.
This is a serious change from Gabaldon’s book, A Breath of Snow and Ashes, in which Bree and Roger welcome their second child only to discover she has a heart condition that Claire cannot treat in the 18th century. Bree and Roger must then travel back to their time to save their daughter’s life, where they settle at Lallybroch and follow Claire and Jamie’s lives through historical research. The Starz series’ departure from Gabaldon’s books means that the timeline Outlander season 6 must now either break from the book’s content even more than it already has, or explain how the magical stones will now allow Bree and Roger age, despite their previous cosmic decree that Bree and Roger were already “home.”
While it is unlikely that Starz’s Outlander will take such a giant leap from the storylines laid out in Gabaldon’s series, having Bree and Roger successfully time travel in season 6 would create a plot hole. The argument could be made that the stones allow age based on need with Claire previously needing to return to her time to keep her unborn baby safe and now Bree and Roger need to return to save their daughter. However, this also leads to complications as Claire did not need to return to Jamie following the Battle of Culloden (not to mention that fellow time traveler, Geillis Duncan did not need to travel through the stones either). What’s more, if a time traveler’s destination in Outlander is somehow governed by necessity, it becomes a mystery how Claire went through the stones in the first place.
Alternatively, Starz’s Outlander could claim that the stones possess a cosmic knowing of the travelers’ best interest, thus refusing age to Bree and Roger before, but allowing it now. This theory would also have its complications though as it was arguably not in Claire’s best interest to return to the past where she was taken hostage and assaulted in Outlander season 5. Furthermore, Brianna and Roger have faced significant adversity as well in the 18th century. It could be that the Starz series made a major miscalculation with their Outlander season 5 time-travel fake-out.