Showtime political drama ‘Homeland’ is back in the competition witth multiple Emmy nominations this year after slipping from the TV Academy’s race in 2014 and failing to bag a nomination in the top category.
In 2012, the multi-awarded hit series won Best Drama and Best Writing in a Drama Series while Claire Danes took home the Emmy for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Drama Series. Former co-star Damian Lewis also bagged the award for Outstanding Lead Actor. All in all, the CIA thriller raked in nine nominations during such year.
"It was truly unexpected and very gratifying at the same time," showrunner Alex Gansa said in an interview with The Hollywood Reporter. "It's hard to make a comeback, especially in Hollywood. Now I can really be honest and reveal just how devastated I was last season when we didn't get a nomination [last year].”
Nonetheless, ‘Homeland’ went on to rake in positive reviews for its recent fourth season, which was deemed as another beginning for the hit series.
For its last season, the cast and crew moved production from North Carolina to South Africa, which doubled for Pakistan. It also left the romantic story between Danes’ Carrie Mathison and Lewis’ Nicholas Brody when the latter was killed off the show.
According to Gansa, he and the team are aiming to maintain the momentum in the show's upcoming fifth season by adding new actors to the cast as well as shifting production and the storyline to Berlin.
"This story is current," the co-creator said of the new season. "With all of the stuff that's going on just south of Berlin in the Middle East and to the east in Russia and Ukraine, it's fascinating.”
He also spoke of Carrie’s future outside of the CIA and how she intends to bring and use her skills in a new workplace.
“Carrie is out of the intelligence business when the season starts and she finds herself in Berlin. It's a center for dissidence,” Gansa explained. “That's where hacktivists go because German privacy laws are so strict. It's hard to have surveillance on people there."
Currently filming at the historic Babelsberg Studio, known as the home base of Nazi propaganda leader Joseph Goebbels during the World War II, Gansa opened up about the new location providing a fresh backdrop for production.
When asked about the upcoming storyline and whether there is a possibility for ‘Homeland’ to move back to the U.S., the executive producer shared that chances will be good if the series is to be renewed for another season.
"Claire and Hugh [Dancy] have a baby, Cyrus, and there's going to come a point in the next year or two when she's going to want to be home," says Gansa. "Cyrus is going to have to go to kindergarten. Fingers crossed, if the series goes that long, we're definitely going to be back in the United States eventually."
