The eighth and final season of the American spy thriller television drama series ''

Homeland A homeland is a place where a cultural, national, or racial identity has formed. The definition can also mean simply one's country of birth. When used as a proper noun, the Homeland, as well as its equivalents in other languages, often has ethni ...

'' premiered on February 9, 2020, and concluded on April 26, 2020, on

Showtime Showtime or Show Time may refer to: Film * ''Showtime'' (film), a 2002 American action/comedy film * ''Showtime'' (video), a 1995 live concert video by Blur Television Networks and channels * Showtime Networks, a division of Paramount Global w ...

, consisting of 12 episodes.

Plot

Saul Berenson, the

National Security Advisor A national security advisor serves as the chief advisor to a national government on matters of security. The advisor is not usually a member of the government's cabinet but is usually a member of various military or security councils. National sec ...

for newly inaugurated President Ralph Warner, is assigned to negotiate peace with the

Taliban The Taliban (; ps, طالبان, ṭālibān, lit=students or 'seekers'), which also refers to itself by its state (polity), state name, the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan, is a Deobandi Islamic fundamentalism, Islamic fundamentalist, m ...

in Afghanistan. Carrie Mathison is still struggling to recover from her brutal treatment as a prisoner in Russia, but Saul wants to take her to Afghanistan, feeling her knowledge and experience there are essential.

Cast and characters

Main

Claire Danes Claire Catherine Danes (born April 12, 1979) is an American actress. She is the recipient of three Primetime Emmy Awards, four Golden Globe Awards, and two Screen Actors Guild Awards. In 2012, ''Time'' named her one of the 100 most influentia ...

Carrie Mathison Carrie Anne Mathison, played by actress Claire Danes, is a fictional character and the protagonist of the American television drama/thriller series ''Homeland'' on Showtime, created by Alex Gansa and Howard Gordon. Carrie is a CIA officer who, wh ...

, a former

CIA The Central Intelligence Agency (CIA ), known informally as the Agency and historically as the Company, is a civilian intelligence agency, foreign intelligence service of the federal government of the United States, officially tasked with gat ...

case officer and station chief *

Maury Sterling Charles Maury Wallace Sterling (born September 1, 1971) is an American actor. He is best known for playing Max Piotrowski in ''Homeland'', Rafferty in the comedy film '' Beverly Hills Chihuahua'' and Lester Tremor in the action film ''Smokin' Ace ...

as Max Piotrowski, a surveillance expert and Carrie's trusted associate *

Costa Ronin Konstantin "Costa" Ronin (born 3 February 1979) is an Australian actor and cinematographer, best known for appearances in '' Red Dog'', as Gregorovich on the SBS drama ''East West 101'', as Oleg Igorevich Burov in the FX drama ''The Americans'' ...

as Yevgeny Gromov, a Russian

GRU The Main Directorate of the General Staff of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation, rus, Гла́вное управле́ние Генера́льного шта́ба Вооружённых сил Росси́йской Федера́ци ...

officer *

Nimrat Kaur Nimrat Kaur (born 13 March 1982) is an Indian actress who appears in Hindi films and on American television. She began her career as a print model and went on to act in theater. After brief appearances in a few films, Kaur starred in Anurag Ka ...

Tasneem Qureishi Tasneem Qureishi is a fictional character on the American television series ''Homeland'' on Showtime, created by Alex Gansa and Howard Gordon. Portrayed by Indian actress Nimrat Kaur in season four (2014) and season eight (2020), Tasneem is an ...

, the head of the Pakistani

Inter-Services Intelligence The Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI; ur, , bayn khadamatiy mukhabarati) is the premier intelligence agency of Pakistan. It is responsible for gathering, processing, and analyzing any information from around the world that is deemed relevant ...

agency *

Numan Acar Numan Acar (born 7 October 1974) is a Turkish-German actor and film producer. Life and career Acar was born in 1974 in Kozoglu, a small village in the Kelkit district of Turkey; he lived in the nearby city of Erzincan until 1982, when his famil ...

as Haissam Haqqani, the head of the

Linus Roache Linus William Roache (born 1 February 1964) is a British actor. He is known for playing Executive ADA Michael Cutter in the NBC dramas ''Law & Order'' (2008–2010) and '' Law & Order: Special Victims Unit'' (2011–2012). More recently, Roach ...

as David Wellington, the White House Chief of Staff *

Mandy Patinkin Mandel Bruce Patinkin (; born November 30, 1952) is an American actor and singer, known for his work in musical theatre, television and film. He is a critically acclaimed Broadway performer, having received three Tony Award nominations, winning ...

Saul Berenson This is a list of characters appearing in the Showtime drama television series ''Homeland''. Appearances : = Main cast (credited) : = Recurring cast (3+) : = Guest cast (1-2) Main cast Recurring cast ;Notes Main characters The foll ...

, Carrie's former boss and mentor, and the

Recurring

Mohammad Bakri Mohammad Bakri (born 1953; ar, محمد بكري, he, מוחמד בכרי) is a Palestinian actor and film director.Vice President A vice president, also director in British English, is an officer in government or business who is below the president (chief executive officer) in rank. It can also refer to executive vice presidents, signifying that the vice president is on t ...

and, later,

President of Afghanistan The president of the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan was constitutionally the head of state and head of government of the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan (2004–2021) and Commander-in-Chief of the Afghan Armed Forces. On 15 August 2021, as t ...

Tim Guinee Timothy S. Guinee (born November 18, 1962) is an American stage, television, and feature-film actor. Primarily known for his roles as Tomin in the television series ''Stargate SG-1'' (1997–2007) and railroad entrepreneur Collis Huntington AMC' ...

as Scott Ryan, chief of special operations at the CIA *

Andrea Deck Andrea Deck (born February 5, 1994) is an American film, television and theater actress. She trained at the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art. She is best known for her voice role as Amanda Ripley, daughter of Ellen Ripley, in '' Alien: I ...

as Jenna Bragg, a CIA field agent in Kabul * Cliff Chamberlain as Mike Dunne, the CIA station chief in Kabul * Charles Brice as Staff Sergeant John Durkin, a

U.S. Army The United States Army (USA) is the land service branch of the United States Armed Forces. It is one of the eight U.S. uniformed services, and is designated as the Army of the United States in the U.S. Constitution.Article II, section 2, cl ...

soldier serving in Afghanistan * Sam Chance as Specialist Drew Soto, serving in Afghanistan * Octavio Rodriguez as Specialist Arturo Gonzales, a U.S. Army soldier serving in Afghanistan * Victor Almanzar as Staff Sergeant Justin Wenzel, a U.S. Army soldier serving in Afghanistan * Jason Tottenham as Alan Yager, a CIA field agent in Kabul * Emilio Cuesta as Specialist Charlie Stoudt, a U.S. Army soldier serving in Afghanistan *

Art Malik Athar ul-Haque Malik (born 13 November 1952), known professionally as Art Malik, is a Pakistani-born British actor who achieved international fame in the 1980s through his starring and subsidiary roles in assorted British and Merchant Ivory tel ...

as Bunran Latif, a retired Pakistani general *

Sam Trammell Sam Trammell (born January 29, 1969) is an American actor, known for his role as Sam Merlotte on the HBO fantasy drama series ''True Blood''. He was nominated for the Tony Award for Best Featured Actor in a Play for his performance as Richard Mil ...

as Benjamin Hayes, the

vice president A vice president, also director in British English, is an officer in government or business who is below the president (chief executive officer) in rank. It can also refer to executive vice presidents, signifying that the vice president is on t ...

and later

President of the United States The president of the United States (POTUS) is the head of state and head of government of the United States of America. The president directs the executive branch of the federal government and is the commander-in-chief of the United Stat ...

* Elham Ehsas as Jalal Haqqani, Haissam's rebellious son * Seear Kohi as Balach, a Taliban loyal to Haissam * Eugene Lee as General Mears *

Terry Serpico Terrance M. Serpico is an American film and television actor. Personal Life Serpico was born in Fort Sill in Lawton, Oklahoma, the youngest of three children. He became interested in acting after graduating from high school. He attended Bost ...

as General Owens, a U.S. Army general serving in Afghanistan * Tracy Shayne as Janet Gaeto,

U.S. Ambassador to Afghanistan The United States ambassador to Afghanistan is the official diplomatic representative of the United States to Afghanistan. In the wake of the 2021 fall of Kabul to the Taliban, the U.S. Embassy in Kabul transferred operations to Doha, Qatar. S ...

* Mustafa Haidari as Firooz *

Karen Pittman } Karen Pittman is an American actress. Born in Mississippi and raised in Nashville, Tennessee, Pittman received a Bachelor of Arts in Voice and Opera at Northwestern University and a Masters of Fine Arts from NYU's Graduate Acting Program. Pittma ...

as Vanessa Kroll, an FBI agent *

Hugh Dancy Hugh Michael Horace Dancy (born 19 June 1975) is an English actor who rose to prominence for his role as the titular character in the television film adaptation of ''David Copperfield'' (2000) as well as for roles in feature films as Kurt Schmid ...

as John Zabel, a

foreign policy A State (polity), state's foreign policy or external policy (as opposed to internal or domestic policy) is its objectives and activities in relation to its interactions with other states, unions, and other political entities, whether bilaterall ...

advisor to the President of the United States

Guest

* Mohammad Amiri as Arman, a friend of Carrie's in Kabul *

Kevork Malikyan Kevork Malikyan (born 2 June 1943) is an English-Armenian actor and teacher. He is known for his roles as Kazim in the film ''Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade'' (1989), Max Papandrious in the television sitcom ''Mind Your Language'' (1977– ...

as Agha Jan *

Anna Kathryn Holbrook Anna Kathryn Holbrook (née York; born April 18, 1957) is an American television actress, known for her role as Sharlene Frame Hudson on the NBC daytime soap opera '' Another World'', for which she received Daytime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supp ...

as Robin * David Hunt as Jim Turrow *

Jonjo O'Neill John Joseph "Jonjo" O'Neill (born 13 April 1952) is an Irish National Hunt racehorse trainer and former jockey. He is a native of Castletownroche, County Cork in Ireland. Based at the Jackdaws Castle training establishment in England. O'Neill ...

as Doug *

Anna Francolini Anna Francolini (born 30 October 1973) is an English actress. Early life Francolini was born in Chertsey, Surrey, attended Bristol Grammar School and studied theatre at the University of Warwick. She also trained as a member of the National You ...

as Dr. Foley * Sitara Attaie as Samira Noori *

Beau Bridges Lloyd Vernet "Beau" Bridges III (born December 9, 1941) is an American actor and director. He is a three-time Emmy, two-time Golden Globe and one-time Grammy Award winner, as well as a two-time Screen Actors Guild Award nominee. Bridges was a ...

as Ralph Warner, the

Christopher Maleki Christopher Maleki (born February 26, 1964) is an American soap opera actor and photographer. He is best known for portraying the role of Spike Lester, Herbert "Spike" Lester on ''Passions''. Filmography *Supah Ninjas – X (2011) (TV) *Finding ...

as President Daoud, the

* Michael Rabe as Chief Mechanic Worley * Sharif Dorani as Barlas *

Austin Basis Austin Lee Basis (born September 14, 1976) is an American actor. Early life and education Basis was born in Brooklyn, New York, where he attended Mark Twain Intermediate School 239 and Midwood High School. While majoring in theatre at Binghamto ...

as Lonnie * Kate Burton as Doris Warner, Ralph Warner's wife * Zineb Triki as Judge Haziq Qadir *

Adnan Jaffar Adnan Jaffar ( ur, ) is a Pakistani actor and former anchor from Karachi. He is known for his work in theatre, film and television industry of Pakistan for which he is extensively appreciated. Career Adnan began his career after attending Nat ...

as General Aziz *

Elya Baskin Elijah ( ; he, אֵלִיָּהוּ, ʾĒlīyyāhū, meaning "My God is Yahweh/YHWH"; Greek form: Elias, ''Elías''; syr, ܐܸܠܝܼܵܐ, ''Elyāe''; Arabic: إلياس or إليا, ''Ilyās'' or ''Ilyā''. ) was, according to the Books o ...

as Viktor Makarov,

Russian Ambassador to the United States The Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the Russian Federation to the United States of America is the official representative of the President of the Russian Federation and the Government of the Russian Federation to the President of ...

Samrat Chakrabarti Samrat Chakrabarti (born 22 August 1975) is a British-American film actor and musician of Indian descent. Early life Born in London to Indian Hindu Bengali immigrant parents from Kolkata. He performed in Indian community functions in Boston, ...

as Ambassador Rashad,

Pakistan Ambassador to the United States The Pakistan Ambassador to the United States is in charge of the Pakistan Embassy, Washington, D.C. and Pakistan's diplomatic mission to the United States. The official title is Ambassador of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan to the United Stat ...

Chris Bauer Mark Christopher Bauer (born October 28, 1966) is an American actor. He is best known for his television work in ''The Wire'', ''Third Watch'', ''True Blood'', ''Survivor's Remorse,'' '' The Deuce and'' the Apple TV+ original science fiction spac ...

as Kevin Dance *

Ben Savage Bennett Joseph Savage (born September 13, 1980) is an American actor. He played the lead role of Cory Matthews on the ABC sitcom ''Boy Meets World'' (1993–2000) and its Disney Channel sequel ''Girl Meets World'' (2014–2017). Early life Sava ...

as young Saul Berenson *

Robin McLeavy Robin McLeavy (born 19 June 1981) is an Australian actress. Early life McLeavy is from Sydney, Australia. She graduated from NIDA in 2004. Career McLeavy starred as Lola Stone in the critically acclaimed Australian horror film, '' The Loved ...

as Charlotte Benson *

Merab Ninidze Merab Ninidze ( ka, მერაბ ნინიძე; born 3 November 1965) is a Georgian actor. In the English-speaking world, he is best known for the roles of Walter Redlich in ''Nowhere in Africa'' and Oleg Penkovsky in '' The Courier''. ...

as Mirov * Tatyana Mukha as Anna Pomerantseva *

Julie Engelbrecht Julie Charon Engelbrecht (born 30 June 1984) is a French-born German actress. Early life Engelbrecht was born in Paris. She is the daughter of the actress Constanze Engelbrecht, and made her acting debut at 12 years old, appearing with her mot ...

as young Anna Pomerantseva *

Robert Clotworthy Robert Clotworthy is an American narrator and voice actor. He may be best known as the narrator for the History Channel series ''Ancient Aliens'' and ''The Curse of Oak Island'' and his role as the voice of Jim Raynor in the ''StarCraft'' video ...

as Judge *

Amy Hargreaves Amy Hargreaves (born January 27, 1970) is an American actress who has worked in film, television, video games and theater. She had a recurring role on ''Homeland'' as Maggie Mathison. In 1994, she starred in ''Brainscan'' with Edward Furlong. I ...

as Maggie Mathison, Carrie's sister * Jacqueline Antaramian as Dorit, Saul's sister *

Jon Lindstrom Jon Robert Lindstrom (born October 18, 1957) is an American actor, writer, director, producer, and musician. He is well known for his role as Kevin Collins on the ABC Daytime soap opera ''General Hospital'' and its spin-off ''Port Charles''. ...

as Claude Geroux

Kamasi Washington Kamasi Washington (born February 18, 1981) is an American jazz saxophonist, usually playing tenor saxophone. Archived July 9, 2015. Career Washington was born in 1981 and raised in Los Angeles, California. He is a graduate of the Academy of ...

makes a special appearance in the series finale.

Episodes

Production

The eighth season was ordered back-to-back with

season 7 A season is a division of the year based on changes in weather, ecology, and the number of daylight hours in a given region. On Earth, seasons are the result of the axial parallelism of Earth's tilted orbit around the Sun. In temperate and po ...

in August 2016. In April 2018, Claire Danes confirmed that season 8 would be the last, and Showtime officially confirmed the final season in August. In April 2018, showrunner

Alex Gansa Alex Gansa is a screenwriter and producer best known as the creator, executive producer and showrunner of the Showtime series ''Homeland'', based on the original Israeli series ''Prisoners of War'' created by Gideon Raff. He produced and wrote a ...

stated his plans for the final season, "Season 8 will be overseas somewhere. We get to play a story with larger national stakes in season 7 and we'll go back to a smaller intelligence-based season in 8." He also stated, "We're going to start fresh in season 8 and probably do a fairly big time jump between 7 and 8 and put any

Trump Trump most commonly refers to: * Donald Trump (born 1946), 45th president of the United States (2017–2021) * Trump (card games), any playing card given an ad-hoc high rank Trump may also refer to: Businesses and organizations * Donald J. T ...

parallels behind us" and "We'll tell a very contained story, hopefully in Israel." In January 2019, it was confirmed that the final season will take place in Afghanistan, with filming beginning in February in Morocco. The season was originally planned to debut in June 2019, however, it was delayed until late 2019 "because of production demands of our international locations", per Showtime co-president Gary Levine. In August 2019, Showtime delayed the premiere again to February 2020; Levine stated, "''Homeland'' is an ambitious series — especially in its final season. howrunnerAlex

ansa Ansa (Latin for "handle") or ANSA may refer to: Organizations * Agenzia Nazionale Stampa Associata, Italian news agency ** Ansa Mediterranean or ANSAmed, section of the above * Applied Neuroscience Society of Australasia * Association of Norw ...

wants to go out proudly, and that has involved production in multiple countries at times and in places that have some issues. It just takes time." He added, "There have been no missteps. It's been a relatively smooth process. But it's a very ambitious production schedule and it has taken more time than we nticipated" During an April 2020 interview on Homeland Season 8, Jalal Haqqani actor Elham Ehsas commented, "I think Haissam (Haqqani) was both Jalal’s biggest idol and biggest heartbreak."

Reception

The eighth season received highly positive reviews. On

Rotten Tomatoes Rotten Tomatoes is an American review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee, and Stephen Wang ...

, the season has an approval rating of 85% based on 25 reviews, with an average rating of 7.27/10. The site's critical consensus is, "''Homeland'' returns to form with a tautly thrilling final season that fittingly finishes the job Carrie Mathison started all those years ago." On

Metacritic Metacritic is a website that review aggregator, aggregates reviews of films, TV shows, music albums, video games and formerly, books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted arithmetic mean, weighted average). M ...

, the season has a score of 71 out of 100 based on 10 critics, indicating "generally favorable reviews". Robert Rorke of the ''

New York Post The ''New York Post'' (''NY Post'') is a conservative daily tabloid newspaper published in New York City. The ''Post'' also operates NYPost.com, the celebrity gossip site PageSix.com, and the entertainment site Decider.com. It was established ...

'' wrote, "The first three episodes are a bit clunky, with Carrie's familiar pattern of alienating nearly everyone she meets kicking in again – and then Episode 4 comes along and ''Homeland'' finds its groove." Ben Travers of ''

IndieWire IndieWire (sometimes stylized as indieWIRE or Indiewire) is a film industry and review website that was established in 1996. The site's focus was predominantly independent film, although its coverage has grown to "to include all aspects of Hollyw ...

'' gave it a "B+" grade and praised the performances of Claire Danes and Mandy Patinkin, as well as the direction by Lesli Linka Glatter "for her beautifully staged and tensely cut action sequences".

Ratings

Accolades

At the

72nd Primetime Emmy Awards The 72nd Primetime Emmy Awards honored the best in American prime time television programming from June 1, 2019, until May 31, 2020, as chosen by the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences. The ceremony was originally to be held at the Microso ...

Lesli Linka Glatter Lesli Linka Glatter (born July 26, 1953) is an American film and television director. She is best known for her work on the AMC drama series ''Mad Men'' and the Showtime series ''Homeland'', for which she's received eight Primetime Emmy Award nomi ...

received a nomination for

Outstanding Directing for a Drama Series The Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Directing for a Drama Series is presented to the best directing of a television drama series, usually for a particular episode.Though this category is the dominant one in which dramatic directing has been ...

for the series finale "

Prisoners of War A prisoner of war (POW) is a person who is held Captivity, captive by a belligerent power during or immediately after an armed conflict. The earliest recorded usage of the phrase "prisoner of war" dates back to 1610. Belligerents hold priso ...

". At the

11th Critics' Choice Television Awards The 26th Critics' Choice Awards were presented on March 7, 2021, at the Barker Hangar at the Santa Monica Airport, honoring the finest achievements of filmmaking and television programming in 2020. The ceremony was broadcast on The CW and Taye ...

received a nomination for Best Actress in a Drama Series.

References

External links

* * {{Homeland episodes 2020 American television seasons 8 Television episodes set in Afghanistan