'Homeland' Jim Fiscus/SHOWTIME
Alex Gansa also notes that, should they be able to, he'd like to see the final season film in Israel.
Homeland starts filming it's sixth season in New York next week. Despite the fact that they have yet to shoot a single frame, stars Claire Danes and Mandy Patinkin and showrunner/co-creator Alex Gansa had a lot to talk about when meeting with reporters on Thursday afternoon.
"Every season, when we're developing stories, we're terrified of being counterfactual by the time we air," said Gansa. "This year, we're hedging our bets a little bit. She's a little bit Hillary, a little bit Donald Trump and a little bit Bernie Sanders."
"If you listen to Donald Trump, there are these people who run the government from administration to administration and they have completely screwed the world up," Gansa added. "There is part of that in our president. There is also a little bit of Hillary, in terms of she's a pragmatist and knows Washington from the inside."
Touching on Trump, specifically, Gansa noted that one of the many people they've consulted about is general and former NSA head Michael Hayden. Hayden has been outspoken about the potential dangers of a Trump presidency. "I think it's fair to say there's some concern," Gansa offered.
The president elect, a Junior New York Senator, will be conducting the transition out of her home state.
The biggest question in the aftermath of Homeland's fifth season was the fate of Rupert Friend's character. And, despite Quinn seemingly dying in the last scenes, he is still listed as a series regular.
"Quinn is alive," said Gansa of the absentee actor. "I can say that much, but we really want to be careful about revealing what his condition is. He suffered a major stroke last season. You are going to see a very changed and altered Quinn this year. I think Quinn, this coming season, will really represent a profound and familiar casualty of the war on terror for our audience. What he endured last year is different from what he'll go through this year. This year will be suffused with his daily relationship with Claire's character."
Danes did not talk much about about her alter ego's emotional storylines, but she did touch on her relationship with Patinkin's Saul. "I think that they have diverged," she said. "There has been a split that they've been working on repairing over the course of the last couple of seasons — to varying degrees of success. Saul has committed himself even more to the agency, and Carrie rejects some fundamental principals of it it. They are still profoundly bonded."
As Showtime boss David Nevins announced in June, Homeland will get a seventh and eighth season. It could still go on after that — but, when asked if he had an idea about an endgame, Gansa offered a shrug.
"I wish," said Gansa. "We really don't. David Nevins says we take the show season by season. We take it episode by episode. Pie in the sky, we would all like to take the show back to Israel for the final season. It would be great to end the run there, but it's a big question if we could ever go back."
