‘Homeland’: Showtime Brass On “Ambitious Production Schedule” That Led To Final Season Premiere Delay – TCA

Nellie Andreeva

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Homeland will have the longest hiatus between seasons, with the drama’s final eighth season set to premiere February 9, two years after Season 7, which debuted on February 11 2018.

The final season originallywas scheduled to premiere in June 2019. The launch subsequently was moved to the end of 2019, and the date has now been finalized.

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At Showtime’s TCA executive session, the network’s President of Entertainment Gary Levine stressed that the delays are related to the demands of filming and no creative or other issues.

“Homeland is an ambitious series, and especially in its final season,” he said. “[Showrunner] Alex [Gansa[ wants to go out proudly, and he’s going to. And that has involved production in multiple countries, and, at times, in places that have some issues just takes time.”

Levine added: “There have been no missteps here. It’s been a relatively smooth process but a very ambitious production schedule that has just taken more time than we hoped it would. And one of the things we do at Showtime is we’d rather have it good than fast. And that’s what’s going to happen when Homeland premieres in February.”

Season 8 of Homeland is said to be the series’ most ambitious to date, filming in multiple places in the U.S. as well as Morocco, with some locations being kept secret for security reasons.

I hear that, after the complex filming schedule did not allow for a summer 2019 run, Showtime brass opted to go in February as the network’s fall schedule already was packed.

Starring Claire Danes and Mandy Patinkin, the Emmy-winning Homeland is wrapping production on its final 12 episodes.

The final season finds Carrie Mathison (Danes) recovering from months of brutal confinement in a Russian gulag. Her body is healing, but her memory remains fractured – which is a problem for Saul (Patinkin), now National Security Advisor to the newly ascendant President Warner (Beau Bridges). The top priority of Warner’s young administration is an end to the “forever war” in Afghanistan, and Saul has been dispatched to engage the Taliban in peace negotiations. But Kabul teems with warlords and mercenaries, zealots and spies – and Saul needs the relationships and expertise that only his protégé can provide. Against medical advice, Saul asks Carrie to walk with him into the lion’s den – one last time.

The political thriller, based on an Israeli format, is produced by Fox 21 TV Studios. Along with Gansa and Howard Gordon, executive producers for Season 8 include Chip Johannessen, Debora Cahn, Lesli Linka Glatter, Patrick Harbinson, Danes, Michael Klick, Avi Nir, Ran Telem and Gideon Raff.

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