Droughtlander is nearly over, but don't expect everything to be rugged sex scenes and Scottish fairy tales.

The end of Season 2 of Outlander left viewers slightly heartbroken as Jamie (Sam Heughan) and Claire (Caitriona Balfe) were torn apart. Jamie sent a pregnant Claire tumbling back to the future through the standing stones instead of facing near-certain death at the Battle of Culloden.

Season 3 of Outlander, premiering on Starz Sept. 10, (8 ET/PT), is "an epic season, I think it's our best yet," Heughan told USA TODAY as filming for Season 3 wrapped earlier this year.

Though the season is shaping up to be an impressive one, fans should brace for more hardship before any steamy reunions of the lovers, now separated by more than 100 years and an ocean.

More:Jamie and Claire are taking a timeout after a time jump on 'Outlander'

"The title is voyager and its definitely that," he says. "The journey picks up from end of Season 2, Jamie sends Claire back from the stones, and goes off to the Battle of Culloden, essentially to die. History says that Culloden was a great defeat."

Jamie doesn't expect to make it through the fight, the final bloody confrontation between the Jacobite uprising and the British crown that effectively ended the Scottish clan system. As readers of Diana Gabaldon's novels know, Jamie manages to survive, and the scene isn't pretty.

"He’s lost everything he loves and his unborn child, family, close friends and allies," Heughan says. "It is really a great journey that he goes on to 20 years later, and reappears as if by magic back into his life unexpectedly."

Claire, on the other hand, returns to 1948, when she's still married to Frank, who moves to Boston for his new job.

Though there are eventual magical reunions (foreshadowed in the Season 2 finale), sea travels and stops in Jamaica, it's not an easy journey for Jamie.

"He really changes his personality this season, becomes many different people," Heughan says. "He doesn’t really want to be Jamie Fraser anymore, (He) essentially wants to die and takes many things to realize it’s not worth it. It's very epic."

More: Droughtlander is almost over: 'Outlander' Season 3 premiere date, teaser released