By the middle of Homeland's third season, many critics and fans had come close to writing the show off for not seeming able to move beyond the Brody-based storyline in order to make Carrie's problems as global as they needed to be. But then the show finally did it, and the last two years have been increasingly more fascinating to watch as a result. Showtime is locked into this viewpoint as well, as the network has ordered up not just Season 7 of the political thriller, but also Season 8. And the sixth season hasn't even gone into production yet!
This is huge news for Homeland, considering the real life geo-political climate adapted for so many storylines will never stop providing material for developers Howard Gordon and Alex Gansa. It was revealed earlier this year that a deal was being sought out to give Homeland an extended season renewal, with Showtime CEO David Nevins saying that there is an "open-ended expiration date" on the drama, specifically because there is no end to the headlines made by governments around the world. Now we know how serious he was about those words, and I wonder if there was any consideration for Season 9.
Nevins is indeed the one who made the renewal announcement earlier today at the TCA press event (via TVLine). And while we don't have any idea what'll happen in either Season 7 or 8, Nevins did share the kinds of things we can expect from Season 6, which will be a big departure from Season 5, which was itself a departure from Season 4, and so on. This will be the first season in years set entirely inside the United States - in New York City, to be exact - and rather than dealing with issues abroad, Season 6 will focus on how this country is dealing with things happening overseas, as well as the people making them happen.
More information about Season 6 than ever was dropped at TCA (via EW), and Nevins said that the story will tackle the Iran nuclear weapons deal, since part of that took place in NYC, as well as how the Muslim community is viewed by Americans since 9/11. (I'm sure that was extremely fun to write.) Plus, we'll be seeing a female President in office when Carrie returns to the U.S., as played by the great Elizabeth Marvel, and Showtime's big boss says that she is a mishmash of this current election's most popular candidates.
If you listen to Donald Trump, he says that there are these people that run the government from administration to administration and they have completely screwed the world up over the last 25 years, so I think there's part of that in our president-elect --- who is skeptical of the people that have gotten us into the mess that we're in. I think there's a little bit of Bernie in terms of the more progressive agenda, and then there's a little bit of Hillary in terms of just being a pragmatist and looking at the world as she sees it from the inside. Also, our new president happens to be from New York, she's a junior senator, so there's a little bit of Hillary obviously in that.
I love the idea of using the strongest parts of those worlds, since everyone here in the real world focuses on the worst parts of each politician. (Or the politician's fanbase, in Bernie's case.) It's a great touch for a show that so often puts other fictional world leaders in the spotlight, and having this season come in right around the upcoming POTUS' inauguration is going to make for some crazy comparisons.
There's lots more to expect from Season 6 of Homeland, from Quinn's awkward survival to Claire's older child to Saul...doing more Saul stuff. Find out how it all goes down when Homeland returns to Showtime on Sunday, January 15, at 9:00 p.m. ET. For everything premiering in the meantime, check out our fall TV schedule.
