“The core four of ‘Outlander’ are like the Beatles of New York Comic Con,” she says.

It seems like a hyperbolic comparison — until you spend an afternoon tagging along with Balfe and three castmates, Sam Heughan (Jamie), Sophie Skelton (Brianna) and Richard Rankin (Roger), on a rare trip to New York to promote Season 4 of “Outlander,” which begins Sunday.

[Need a refresher on where Season 3 of “Outlander” left off? Here’s what to remember.]

While shows like “The Walking Dead,” another Comic Con favorite, inspire large, passionate followings, “Outlander” devotees turn the festivities into a cross between Beatlemania and a family reunion. Diana Gabaldon, the author of the novels that inspired the show, is the exalted matriarch (referred to as “Herself”), but the showrunner, Ronald D. Moore, and his wife, the costume designer Terry Dresbach, are the mom and pop of “Outlander” world.

“I love your wife!” one excited fan shouts at Moore.

Outside hundreds more fans have been waiting for hours in an intermittent drizzle for a chance to attend a cast autograph session. Only 100 will get in, so everyone has a decision to make: Stay and hope for the best, or head over to try to claim a seat for the later cast panel at Madison Square Garden’s 5,600-capacity Hulu Theater? “Biggest room I’ve ever been in,” an awed Moore said.

Why is “Outlander” now drawing some of the biggest crowds in its history? Scarcity, for one thing. Seasons 3 and 4 of this hit Starz show were shot virtually back to back, leaving the cast sequestered in Scotland and then South Africa for the better part of two years. The fans were getting really … thirsty. “We don’t make it easy for them,” Heughan said.