The end has finally arrived for Showtime’s Emmy-winning drama Homeland, as the first trailer for season 8 paints a troubling picture for Claire Danes’ Carrie Mathison. It’s been well over a year since the end of the much-better-than-it-should-have-been seventh season, which not only found Carrie battling the president of the United States, but also interference from the Russian government and an Alex Jones-esque talking head willfully spreading disinformation.
The season ended with Carrie at one of the lowest points she’s ever been, having spent seven months in a Russian prison with no access to the medication she relies on to manage her mental illness. The final scene was reminiscent of Bridge of Spies, but it also painted a harrowing picture of all that Carrie had lost in her time behind bars, not to mention all that she stood to lose, even with Saul (Mandy Patinkin) on her side.
The new trailer for season 8 sets up a fitting final act for the drama, one that puts Carrie and Saul in Afghanistan, dealign with the Taliban, and because Carrie is Carrie, dealing with questions regarding her time abroad. The storyline makes no bones about Carrie being seen as the new Brody. That is, Carrie may well be a sleeper agent working for the Russian government. Whether or not that proves to be true, it puts Homeland in a position to deliver a knockout ending that could potentially do what the show was unable to at the end of season 1. Check out the full trailer for Homeland season 8 below:
Carrie’s never been the most reliable of characters, and her continued employment within the U.S. intelligence community is quite the head scratcher. Nevertheless, it has provided Homeland with plenty of stories to tell (some better than others, for certain), and now it suggests the premium cabler can say goodbye to one of its most celebrated original series by sending it out on a high note.
The show certainly doesn’t draw as big an audience as it once did, nor does it garner the accolades it did in seasons 1 and 2, but for fans who have stuck with Carrie and Saul through seven seasons, this eighth and final outing will hopefully bring the story to a satisfying close.
Homeland season 8 premieres Sunday, February 9 @9pm on Showtime.