Damian Lewis & Alex Gansa Talk ‘Homeland’ Finale [Spoiler Alert]

If you’ve just watched the finale, what did you think? Surprised? Relived? I thought it was a stunning way to end and – quite honestly – the only way it could have. We’d love you to share your thoughts in our comments but before you do…read on!

Showtime’s Homeland has undoubtedly been one of the most addictive and tense television shows from the past two years and now we’ve come to an all-round and resolute conclusion, I thought it was a good time to get some thoughts from two massive parts of the machine. It comes thanks to our friends over at the New York Times and also Hitfix, who recently spoke to Homeland co-creator Alex Gansa and Nicholas Brody himself; Damian Lewis.

What struck me, in the over-zealous nature of television drama at the moment, is that Homeland has always tried its best to keep a gritty reality – even in those evidently dramatized scenarios. What can that possibly mean, you ask? Too many shows try to give us clean cut characters, with see-through plot devices that end up being predictable. Sure, it’s great to have these every now and then but as Homeland proves, the intensity and visceral delivery of something intelligent surely wins over everything in the long term.

For me, the final two episodes gave us the perfect example of its cleverness. On the build-up, we had layers of the unknown being driven by what we believed would happen and then it was all turned on the head by the unexpected nature of Brody’s character. Then, our lead man twisted everything again and proved that although a lost soul, he felt the need to try and stick to the cause. When it came to the finale, we still didn’t know but it ended up being equally heart-breaking and truly understandable. Such an already iconic character couldn’t last forever and it seemed fitting – in an odd way – that he’d go out in such a public and conclusive way.

Damian Lewis spoke to the NYT on how he took his departure:

With a mixture of emotions. I loved doing “Homeland,” I loved playing Brody. I’m extremely proud of who we all created together. I think he’s a tragic hero for our time. He himself embodies a cautionary tale, going right back to the beginning, about sending young men to war and the damage it can do. He had brief moments of happiness and glory, but was essentially a very unhappy figure for three years. I enjoyed playing him, but I never expected him to last this long.

He was also asked about Brody’s longevity:

It was just unclear from the get-go, how long he [Brody] would be required for. Certainly, in the conversations I had with [Homeland creators Alex Gansa and Howard Gordon], it was intimated to me very strongly that I would only be there for a period of time. They ended up creating such a compelling, unpredictable, sad and ambiguous character who was capable of so much damage — he was able to affect story on such a grand scale. They created a monster that they couldn’t quite control. Sometimes it feels like that to me. The thought of having to continue to write him was too hard, perhaps. It was going to create too much of a challenge. I sympathize with them. Brody’s a very unbalancing force.

Damian was also asked how he felt about that final scene:

It was terrifying, actually. I had tried hard not to engage too much with the idea of staging my own execution. [Laughs] That might have kept me up. But certainly as we got there and saw the crane in front of the square, they had hired about 200 local extras and they were chanting and banging the car as I came through the crowds. Looking at the crowd, cheering and baying for your blood, all around you, it was very unsettling. Claire chose not to watch it, I don’t think, until she had to. But “Homeland” has never pretended to be a comedy.

Alex Gansa, indeed, backed up the discussion in his chat with Hitfix, saying:

It was made very early on this year in the story room. One of the very first things we decided. In our opinion, the character’s shelf life had expired. His limited presence this season, I think, attests to the fact. We had one story left to tell, and we wanted Brody’s presence to be exigent whenever he appeared on stage, and that’s why he appeared in fewer episodes in previous seasons. That’s why the decision was made early on that he would meet his end this season.

And the big one, of course, what’s next? Carrie is about to have a baby, she’s got the job she wanted coming up, Saul is off to New York, there’s still things happening in Washington…Gansa commented:

I think it’s much more the latter. We don’t really have much of a sense of what season 4 is yet, except insofar as watching Carrie actually doing what she was trained to do, which is being a case officer in a foreign capital somewhere, feels like an interesting place to reset and reboot the show. I couldn’t tell you now if that’s where we’re going to be. Are we going to be in Istanbul or are we going to be in New York or are we going to be in Washington next year? Right now, all that’s up for grabs.

We’ll be there for sure – waiting to see where Homeland goes next!

For the full interviews with both, head to the New York Times via this link for Damian Lewis and over to Hitfix for more words from Alex Gansa.