Claire Danes takes Carrie Mathison on last 'Homeland' mission: 'She's kind of a superhero'

“Homeland” has long confronted the global complexities of terrorism and national security, but its final season gets very personal for Carrie Mathison, the self-sacrificing superspy at the center of the Showtime thriller (Sunday, 9 EST/PST).

Season 8, much like the series, hinges on the relationship between Carrie (Claire Danes) and her mentor, National Security Adviser Saul Berenson (Mandy Patinkin), but it also marks a callback, metaphorically and spiritually, to Nicholas Brody, the POW hero and suspected turncoat played by Damian Lewis who became Carrie’s lover at the start of the series.

"Homeland" has enjoyed a distinguished run, earning eight Emmys – including two for Danes and best drama in 2012 – along with praise for mirroring real security issues.  It did so in early 2017 with a storyline that featured a president dueling with U.S. intelligence agencies and Russian political misinformation. In a sign of its attention to detail, an Iranian intelligence chief from earlier seasons was modeled on Qasem Soleimani, the Iranian leader recently killed by a U.S. drone strike ordered by President Donald Trump. 

As the premiere opens, Carrie struggles to recover from months of isolation in a Russian gulag, where she was taken after a heroic effort to extract a witness last season. Her colleagues are suspicious of whether she's been "turned" by the Russians; even Carrie, who has bipolar disorder, isn’t certain.

“Carrie’s kind of morphed into Brody,” Danes says. “She’s definitely in a circumstance that’s similar to where he was in the very beginning,” leaving viewers wondering whose side he was really on.

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But Saul needs her field expertise and personal connections as he negotiates a peace settlement with the Taliban to end the long-running war in Afghanistan, another real-life parallel.  

So he accepts that risk by sending his impaired operative into a hostile environment.

“That’s been a consistent battle for Saul throughout the entire journey. This young lady is his protégé, his hope for keeping the country and world a safe place,” Patinkin says. “But he has put her at risk through the eight years and would do it again because of the possibility of how many millions she might be able to save versus the life of one.”

In typical "Homeland" fashion, Saul and Carrie's plan runs into an obstacle that allows the show to revisit its roots: how the nation responded to the Sept. 11 attacks with the "war on terror." 

A tense situation "poses the question: What did we learn from our previous experience, and do we take a moment to pause, reflect and make a considered move? Or do we act impulsively and reflexively in a way that's really inflammatory?" Danes says. In answering those questions, "the primary relationship between Carrie and Saul is taken to its edge in surprising ways."

As the two embark on their final mission, the characters (and the show) have changed substantially, producers say.

"All you have to do is trace Carrie's attitude towards her work over the seasons. She began very gung-ho. She got very disillusioned over a period of episodes, and yet she re-upped again. So at the bottom of her being is a desire for America to be its best and at its best," says executive producer Alex Gansa.

"Patriotism has always been something that has impressed us about the real-life" intelligence personnel, says executive producer Howard Gordon ("24"). "I think our characters keep that burning, not in a jingoistic or simplistic way, but in a way that allows for the complexity, the imperfection, the mistakes. Ultimately, it's this expression of hope that this American project is worth preserving." 

After Brody was hanged in Season 3, the show "underwent a transformation," Gansa says. "We became much more a reflection of the world around us. Once we started going overseas and telling the real story of an intelligence officer, we were able to mirror what was happening in the world in a way that we didn't try to before."

"Homeland" also has dealt with sensitive issues, such as mental illness. Danes acknowledges taking some artistic license with Carrie's bipolar disorder and her continued action in the field, "but I think we have dramatized the condition in ways that were tethered to actual events. There's something reassuring and hopeful in illustrating the virtue that can exist within that condition."

There have been bumps in the show's intersection with the real world, including a literal crossover in Season 5 when artists hired to provide graffiti for a street scene wrote "Homeland is racist" in Arabic.

"We get criticized from the left about being Islamophobic and get criticized from the right about being soft on terrorism," Gansa says. "I think if you're getting hit from both sides like that, we're doing our job and we're hopefully generating a conversation. That's what we always tried to do." 

Patinkin acknowledges the hurt among the Muslim community.  Writers and actors "spoke about it and we said, 'Let's do better.'" Characters of Afghan and Pakistani descent this season reflect that commitment, he says, pointing to Saul's bond with Taliban leader Haissam Haqqani (Numan Acar), who first appeared in Season 4.

"It's two human beings," says Patinkin.

Danes says "Homeland" has  endured change, filming in half a dozen countries, but "held on to its identity. It remains really ambitious and far-reaching."

As does Carrie. "She's pretty high up there" among Danes' roles, which range from 1994 teen drama "My So-Called Life" to 2010's "Temple Grandin." "She's dynamic, powerful and resonant, and I will really miss her. She's kind of a superhero, wildly capable in her dysfunctional way."