'Homeland' becomes family affair as star Claire Danes' husband, Hugh Dancy, makes his debut

CIA super-agent Carrie Mathison is often all by herself on “Homeland,” but the Showtime series is a family affair for star Claire Danes.

Danes, who won two Emmys for her portrayal of a heroic operative who has bipolar disorder, is raising the togetherness level in the eighth and final season of the spy thriller (Sundays at 9 EDT/PDT) as her husband, Hugh Dancy, joins the cast for a multi-episode arc.

Dancy made his first appearance in Sunday's episode as John Zabel, a hawkish presidential adviser who advocates "an eye for an eye approach" to foreign policy in his debut. He's an opponent of Carrie's mentor, Saul Berenson (Mandy Patinkin).

Dancy’s “Homeland” presence makes sense beyond his acting résumé, which includes “Late Night,” “The Path” and “Hannibal.” It also helps with the care of the couple’s two sons, Cyrus, 7, and 17-month-old Rowan.

“Rowan was 5 months old when we started filming (the final season), so we really needed to be together. And we kind of made that promise,” Danes says in an interview before the start of the final season. “He’s an excellent actor, but the proximity didn’t hurt. (Producers) knew he would do a fantastic job with it and he’s already in our ‘Homeland’ family.”

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Danes and Dancy don't share any scenes, but that offered a benefit during filming.

“That was fun, because when he was working, by definition, I wasn't, so I would go and visit him on his set. It was enjoyably strange,” she says. “It was such a gift to be able to share the show with him as directly as that and to have him learn about it from the inside out.”

Danes’ sons have been part of “Homeland,” too, in uncredited parts. She was pregnant with both while playing a character who faces crises at work and at home. (Carrie has had harrowing experiences with her own young daughter, Frannie, and last season concluded "she was not destined or fit to be a mother, and that the truly generous and loving act was to leave her with her sister" to raise, Danes says.)

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“I was pregnant for a lot of (filming). With Cyrus, I started (filming) in my second trimester. I was eight months pregnant when we finished” the season, she says. “With Rowan, I was filming during the first and second trimester. So, I got it from both ends. I got the nausea and fatigue, and then the huge belly they had to digitally erase.”

She can connect some of their baby milestones to “Homeland” shooting locations.

“They both learned to crawl in Morocco. There’s 5½ years between the two, but we happened to be shooting in the country when they were at that stage of development, so they have that in common,” she says.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Claire Danes, Hugh Dancy make last 'Homeland' season a family affair