'Homeland' explores new territory in Season Four

Homeland producers talk about moving on fromBrody’s shocking death and what to expect in the new season.

When Homeland returns there will definitely be sinister affairs afoot. Only they won’t be the ones viewers are used to.

One of the two main characters, Nicholas Brody (Damian Lewis), met his maker last season at the end of a rope. That leaves CIA operative Carrie Mathison (Claire Danes) free to carry on covert operations somewhere else.

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Thewriters make no apologies for that. “When we first conceived the idea, Howard (Gordon) and I, on our many walks through the palisades, we always imagined the Brody story to last only a season,” says executive producer Alex Gansa.

“And so we were fully expecting to take Carrie (Claire Danes) overseas to do what she was trained to do, which is to be a case officer. And it’s just taken us three seasons to get there instead of one.”

After filming three seasons in North Carolina, this year’s episodes are shot in South Africa, both an economical and a safe place to work, says Alexander Cary, one of the show’s executive producers.

“First of all, we wanted somewhere that had the patina, I suppose, of foreignness. And secondly, we had to go somewhere where we could realistically and production-wise shoot the story we want to shoot, set in the place where we want to set it,” he says.

“And though Cape Town might not seem like an ideal place to shoot for Islamabad, it’s actually amazing,” adds Gansa. “A lot of Bollywood films have started shooting in Cape Town, and there’s a big expatriate community of Pakistanis and Indians there which provides us extras and great character actors.”

The writers say they meticulously craft Homeland so that it rings true. “Before we started this season, we went to D.C. and sat down with a lot of personnel who were formerly in the CIA. And it turns out that a lot of these foreign, what they call ‘hardship postings’ are assigned to somewhat, or can be assigned to somewhat roguish characters. And the reason is because the CIA’s job is to break the laws of other countries,” says Cary.

“You could combine that with the fact that she (Carrie) was sent to Istanbul originally, which could be regarded as somewhat of a lateral move by a CIA director who wants her out of the way. And in events that we explain this season, she ends up actually in a much hotter place (Kabul) and is able to use her expertise.”

It wasn’t just technical advice they wanted from the intelligence agency, says Gansa. “We spoke to the CIA to mine for stories. And I think that really the glaringly interesting story is Pakistan for the CIA. The people that we deal with are mostly retired, but that’s not exclusively the case ... Mostly we’re told that we don’t get the ‘letter’ always perfect, but we get the ‘spirit’ right. And I think that the intelligence officers and the State Department people who work in this, they really appreciate that. So that’s what we try hard to do.”

Not all the fans were thrilled when Brody was written out of the conflict, and they let the show runners know. “We love our show, and we bleed for our show,” says Gansa.

“So when any criticism comes back our way, we take it seriously, and we take it personally. It’s hard for us to view what we’ve done objectively. That’s the first thing. I think Brody’s participation in the third season was limited ... And I’m biased. I can only say I don’t know how you can look at the last six or seven episodes that we did last season and not say that Homeland is one of the best shows on television.

“The criticism hurt. The lack of an Emmy nomination hurt. But we’re going to come back strong and try to get to the mountaintop again.”

The creators feel that Homeland, based on an original Israeli series, is about more than the teeth-chattering exploits of intelligence agents. “I do think that the show is about the private and public costs of keeping America safe,” says Gansa.

“That’s the overarching theme of the season. And we put a character at the center of that, a compelling character, hopefully, in Carrie Mathison, to really identify the personal costs of the journey. But there also is a national cost to our policies in Afghanistan and Pakistan specifically.

“And one of the things that the intelligence officers and the State Department people were talking to us about in Washington, is this idea that we have left Iraq and we are about to draw down in Afghanistan, and what did all those years of bloodshed mean?

Who’s left on the ground to pick up the pieces once the military draws down are intelligence officers and State Department people.

And those are the embassies that are scattered in those two places, in Islamabad and Kabul. And that’s the story that we’re dramatising this year. So it’s got some juice to it.” 

Catch Homeland tonight on Fox Movies Premium (Astro Ch 413) at 11pm. – McClatchy-Tribune Information Services.