Okay kids! Avert your eyes from this story if you haven’t seen the third crucial season of “Homeland” season 3. There will be spoilers.
If you watched Showtime’s political thriller last season, you know it was a game changer, and for many jumped the shark (we’ll get to that soon). In the aftermath of a terrorist attack committed by Abu Nazir’s organization, the CIA took a beating in the press, but a covert plan was put into place lead by Acting Director Saul Berenson (Mandy Patankin). Suspected Langley bomber Nicholas Brody (Damian Lewis) was eventually captured and re-recruited by the CIA for a clandestine mission to assassinate the head of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard. In the end, Brody was captured by the Iranians and killed, Berenson was fired from the CIA and Carrie Mathison (Claire Danes) discovered she was pregnant with Brody’s child.
The season ended with Mathison assigned to a dangerous CIA mission in the Middle East and trying to balance her roles as a mother and an agent in Pakistan and Afghanistan. Adoption was certainly one of her options, but her father (the late James Rebhorn) and sister were attempting to talk her out of it.
But the show had definitely been rocked to its core. What began as a bifurcated story about Brody and his relationship with Mathison had come to an end. And the critical character of Saul had seemingly been written out of the show. In many ways, to continue the show would be a kind of reboot.
How will the show proceed? Well, the first trailer for the show gives us a few clues. Fortunately, the excellent Mandy Patankin appears to be in the private sector now and apparently will still be central to the show. Carrie’s child has been born, but she’s now off in the Middle East. Her assignment is unknown, but we can assume it’s some form of counter-terrorism.
Rupert Friend and Nazanin Boniadi will be back to reprise their characters, and joining the new show will be new characters played by Corey Stoll, Michael O’Keefe, Suraj Sharma, and Laila Robins.
Many critics believe the show had lost its way for season season. Having just recently finished that season, I’m baffled by that response. The show had some straining, implausible twists and turns, but "Homeland" was like that from minute one. The show hadn’t fundamentally betrayed itself in any manner or gotten any worse (or better for that matter; it’s not perfect, but consistently watchable with good performances). In fact, the show was as taut , intense and intriguing as ever, maybe moreso. That’s my 2 cents, watch the trailer below. [Vanity Fair]