‘Homeland,’ the final season: Carrie walks in Brody’s shoes
Cast members Claire Danes and Mandy Patinkin, along with the executive producers of “Homeland,” appeared recently at the Television Critics Association press tour to address the eighth and final season of the groundbreaking espionage drama.
“I don't have any other reference for this. I've never done anything this long,” Danes said on confronting the end. “It's been so profoundly defining for me.”
In the new episodes, launching Feb. 9 on Showtime, Carrie Mathison (Danes) is recovering from months of brutal confinement in a Russian gulag. Her body is healing, but her memory remains fractured — which is a problem for Saul (Patinkin), now National Security Advisor to the newly ascendant President Warner (Beau Bridges).
The top priority of Warner's administration is an end to the “forever war” in Afghanistan, and Saul has been dispatched to engage the Taliban in peace negotiations. But Kabul teems with warlords and mercenaries, zealots and spies — and Saul needs the relationships and expertise that Carrie can provide.
Against medical advice,
Saul asks Carrie to walk with him into the lion's den — one last time.
In a way, the final run of “Homeland” is coming full circle to Season 1. This time, Carrie herself is the one under suspicion for possibly having been turned by a foreign government. It's shades of Brody (Damian Lewis).
“The really big idea of this season is that Carrie Mathieson steps into Nicholas Brody's shoes,” executive producer Alex Gansa told reporters.
“Her patriotism is questioned,” Danes added. “That's probably the most profound insult she can imagine.”
The “second big part” of the season, said Gansa, “is the real resolution of the primal story of ‘Homeland,' which is the relationship of a mentor and a protege, between Saul (Patinkin) and Carrie. That's what you'll see resolved by the end of the 12 episodes.”
At one point during the panel session, Patinkin delivered a long, emotional rant regarding President Donald Trump's repeated attacks against the U.S. intelligence community.
“The cost of that war is a stunner,” he said before going on to implore citizens “to use not just their imaginations, but to use their minds in seeking out what they believe is the truth, as opposed to false information.”