Homeland may have lost its sleeper terrorist anti-hero Nicholas Brody, but the hit American television show will continue to thrill, its creator says.
Howard Gordon described surviving cast members, led by the gutsy yet emotionally troubled CIA analyst Carrie Mathison, as having plenty of dramatic mileage in the fourth season, due to debut in the autumn.
"Fortunately, Carrie is still a very robust character, [as are fellow CIA spies] Saul and Quinn. And there are tertiary characters who are now stepping more to the fore," Gordon told reporters. Shot in Cape Town, South Africa, the fourth season of Homeland finds Carrie "on assignment, doing what she does".
“She is a person who is trying to stop terrorists doing bad things,” says Gordon, without divulging further details of the plot.
She is still tackling Islamic militants, he said, "but it is more complicated than that. I would say that the bugaboos in Homeland this year have to do as much with the American bureaucracy as with the ostensible enemy."
Homeland won sweeping acclaim for its portrayal of the anguished relationship between Mathison and Brody, a US Marine ex-prisoner of war and secret Al Qaeda recruit, played by Damian Lewis. After their love affair, Brody carries out an assassination for the CIA in Iran, where he was executed at the end of season three. That season was able to regain its standing with critics after many derided the improbable plot twists of the second. Last week, the show received two acting nominations from the Emmys: Best Actress for Claire Danes and Best Supporting Actor for Mandy Patinkin.
Further fuelling the suspense of past Homeland seasons was how the CIA handled the discovery of psychiatric problems that Carrie had tried to conceal, as well as her surprise pregnancy.
In the next season, Gordon said: “Carrie has Brody’s baby and her illness informs her maternity.”
artslife@thenational.ae
