For its swan song, Homeland is sending Claire Danes — and Carrie Mathison — back to the front lines of the War on Terror.
Sources tell to TVLine exclusively that the Showtime drama’s eighth and final season will be set in Afghanistan — but there’s a (familiar) catch. Production on the series’ 12-episode farewell will actually take place on location in Morocco, with the North African country subbing for Afghanistan. The setup harkens back to Homeland’s fourth season, which was similarly set in Afghanistan (where Carrie served as CIA station chief in Kabul) but shot in Cape Town, South Africa.
Reps for Showtime and Twentieth Television declined to comment for this story.
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Homeland heads abroad following two stateside-set seasons (Season 6 in New York City; Season 7 in the Washington D.C. area). Israel was originally eyed as Season 8’s location, with showrunner Alex Gansa telling EW.com las year, “We’ll tell a very contained story, hopefully in Israel.” The EP also revealed that the final chapter would likely “start fresh” with “a fairly big time jump” following the events of Season 7.
“[Season 7 arranged] all the pieces on the chessboard to make that a proper finale for the story we’ve been telling,” Gansa added. “We get to play [Season 7] in D.C with the intention of taking us overseas for one last chapter… We get to pull out all the stops this year and then get to the emotional heart of things in Season 8.”
Last August, Showtime president David Nevins announced Homeland‘s imminent end, explaining that the decision was made mutually by Gansa and leading lady Claire Danes. “Alex and Claire both started talking about it towards the end of last season,” he said. “I asked, ‘Are you sure? Let’s think about it.’ But when they were resolved, it seemed like it was the right time. The two of them finally made the decision.”
Production on Season 8 is slated to begin in early February ahead of an expected summer premiere.
