Showtime’s Homeland will be hitting the creative reset button when it returns for its fourth season this fall. Gone are Sergeant Nicholas Brody (Damian Lewis), his wife Jessica (Morena Baccarin) and definitely his daughter Dana (Morgan Saylor), who for some reason became one of the most widely hated characters on the ‘net throughout the spy drama’s first three seasons. Now, Carrie Mathison (Claire Danes), still grieving Brody’s death, has otherwise put her life back together and is working as a case officer in Pakistan and Afghanistan.
Of course, because this show is called Homeland, Carrie uncovers a possible terrorist plot and leaps into action. She’s not going at it alone, though – season four will introduce new characters played by Corey Stoll and Suraj Sharma. Additionally, Mandy Patinkin and Rupert Friend are returning as Carrie’s former mentor Saul Berenson and former ally Peter Quinn, who still has feelings for Carrie, respectively.
The action-packed first trailer for Homeland‘s first season doesn’t exactly give a concrete picture of the story this time around, but it does showcase some thrilling action and juicy sound bites. “Monsters, all of you,” a man in uniform growls at Carrie, presumably for some tough decision she’s been forced to make. “Get the fuck out of my face,” she evenly replies. That’s the Carrie fans know and love!
In season three especially, her character development became overrun by the Brody story, so it’s great to see her back as the unequivocal focus of the show. It also appears that Carrie has stabilized emotionally since Brody’s death, which means we’ll likely get through at least most of this fall without watching her latest freak-out through our fingers. Though, judging by the widespread nature of that plot, hinted at through the connected locales on that map, she’s definitely not going to have an easy time of it this fall.
Homeland returns on October 4th.