Nicholas Brody (Damian Lewis) has gone from war hero to the world’s most wanted terrorist in the brilliant political thriller Homeland. We have the CIA squad dealing with the aftermath of the terror attack at the end of season two. And executive producer and writer, Alex Gansa, hints at that backlash and Carrie Mathison (Claire Danes) going off her medication in season three, writes Debashine Thangevelo
THE 9/11 terrorist attacks on the US spurred myriad movies and TV shows. Homeland is definitely an iconic TV show – with the Emmys underpinning its brilliant script and cast.
While it captured the danger, suspense and drama of trying to uncover a secret – in this case it was questioning Marine Sergeant Nicholas Brody’s loyalty to his country – it also delved into his personal life and that of Carrie Mathison (Claire Danes), the CIA agent who was determined to take him down until she fell for the “enemy”, while her mentor Saul Berenson (Mandy Patinkin), who is now the new acting director, found himself torn between protecting her and doing his job.
For the new season, Brody isn’t in the first two episodes.
In an interview with Collider.com, executive producer and writer Alex Gansa explained: “The decision to not have Brody in the first two episodes was strictly a function of the story and where the story was taking us.
“So much was transpiring on the ground in Washington that Brody’s flight from America just made it impossible to include that storyline in the first couple of episodes. And whether there’s a backlash or not is completely out of our control.”
On how the climax of last season impacts on the characters, she hinted that the cost of being an intelligence officer comes into play.
Gansa said: “I think Saul and Carrie are obviously the prime examples of that this season. As a result of the attack last year, the CIA itself is on trial.
“Saul finds himself in a very unique and different position… now that he is sitting in the director’s chair.
“He’s been quite comfortable managing from the sidelines for the past 20 years, criticising and making suggestions. All of a sudden, he finds himself making decisions.”
And she confirmed that they shot on location in Puerto Rico as well as Israel.
As for them losing Henry Bromell, who bagged a posthumous Emmy for Outstanding Writing for a Drama Series, she explained: “Henry Bromell tragically died, Meredith Stiehm went on to create The Bridge, which is a fabulous show, and Alex Cary was off doing a pilot that Howard (Gordon) and I were supervising.
“So we brought in a couple of writers, and the writers were fans of the show…”
In doing so they were able to take the story trajectories of the lead characters into very interesting directions.
Meanwhile, Danes, in another interview, shed light on her character going off her meds.
The actress said: “Carrie is always sitting on her own personal ticking bomb, and it’s just an impossible dilemma because she is not great on her meds and she’s even worse off them.
“But there’s a really great sweet spot in the middle of those two states that she’s always trying to land on where she’s exceptionally high-performing.”
Season three smacks of even greater risks with the stakes higher, especially with Brody now declared an enemy of the state.
• Homeland airs on M-Net tonight at 7.30pm.