ShowtimeFinally, some news about when to expect Homeland season six.
Showtime president David Nevins revealed during his exec panel at TCA Summer press tour that Carrie Mathison's adventures will begin again on Sunday, January 15, 2017. Production on the sixth season will begin in New York City in just a few weeks.
The new season sees the story return to the homeland after last season's European escapades, taking place in the Big Apple. As showrunner Alex Gansa previously revealed, the season will follow the timeline between Election Day and Inauguration Day. "It's an interesting time," he said. "A transition and transfer of power is happening. In that 72 days, we're hopefully going to tell an interesting story. Whether the president is male or female, it's going to be a very interesting character." Look for a president elect that Gansa now describes as "a little bit Hillary Clinton, a little bit Donald Trump, a little bit Bernie Sanders." Oh, and she's a female. (Is Homeland with her?)
Not only did Nevins offer up a premiere date, but he also confirmed news that the thriller had been renewed for three more seasons, keeping Claire Danes on the network through season eight. We hope Carrie's stocking up on her meds!
About the multi-year pick-up, Nevins said, "It's the season that's in production plus two more. This show is broken year by year…it's broken by a yearly story, it's somewhat anthological…so I don't think Alex will say 'I've broken the next three seasons of show.' We're sort of see when we get into it…whether we'll keep going or not."
Nevins was joined onstage by programming president Gary Levine, who gushed about the political thriller, "Homeland was deserving a multi-season pickup without a doubt for us."
Now, about some season six scoop. Gansa, Danes, and Mandy Patinkin spoke with reporters later in the day, offering some nuggets of info about the road ahead. First up, they shed some light on what's going on with Quinn (Rupert Friend). Even though the character seemed to die in the season five finale, Friend remains a series regular on the show. How? "Quinn is alive, we really want to be careful about revealing what his condition is," Gansa said. "He suffered a major stroke last season and…you're going to see a very changed and altered Quinn this year."
"I think Quinn this coming season will really represent a very profound and familiar casualty of the war on terror for our audience," he added. "This year will be also suffused with the tension of his daily relationship with Claire."
Carrie's other relationships, namely with Saul and the CIA, will also obviously come into play. "One of the big questions that is carrying over from last season, along with is Peter Quinn alive…is the question is what is Carrie's relationship with the CIA going forward," Gansa previewed. "The truth is Carrie's still not in the agency. When she's going to get back in the agency is the question, if ever."
About her rocky relationship with Saul, Danes had this to say: "I think that they have diverged. There has been a split. That they've been working on preparing over the course of the past couple of seasons to varying degrees of success…They are so profoundly bonded. That's not anything they will be able to rid themselves of, nor would they ever want to. I think she's matured into a very different place from where he has matured to."
Are you excited that Homeland's sticking around on Showtime for years to come? Let us know in the comments below.