Showtime president David Nevins points out that the Claire Danes-starring series is a political thriller at its core, so it's not just about action.
- Dec 23, 2014
AceShowbiz - The fourth season finale of "Homeland" is a complete opposite of the third season finale which ended with the death of Damian Lewis' Brody. While some found the low-key finale reasonable and refreshing, others complained about the "slow" episode.
Talking to Entertainment Weekly, Showtime president David Nevins defends the quiet finale. "We went out of season three with this massive ending, with the death of Brody. And I think a show with this amount of political and narrative complexity can do a last episode that has a change of pace. I thought they needed to do an episode back in Washington, and needed to deal with Carrie's family situation and her issues with motherhood," he says.
Noting that the season at its core "was a political thriller about America's place in the world," he adds, "And there needed to be a political conclusion, too, not just an action conclusion... When I first saw it, I told [showrunner Alex Gansa] it was one of the show's most beautiful episodes."
"If you go back and look at [the season] as an entire movement, it's an incredibly appropriate episode," Nevins continues. "It had its action climax already. And that's what's so great about the show-it can have different movements. It can be contemplative, it can be angry, it can have all sorts of different directions. Ultimately it's a show called 'Homeland', and I thought it was important to bring it back to Carrie's homeland."
Asked if this means season 5 will be set in the States, Nevins says nothing has been set in stone, "but certainly going somewhere else overseas-they're not going back to Pakistan-is one possibility."
On the romantic relationship between Carrie and Quinn after they were briefly together before being apart in the last episode, Nevins weighs in, "It's unclear to me yet whether Carrie's feelings for Quinn were momentary or deeper. And I don't think the show is clear on that yet. Clearly, Quinn has had feelings for Carrie for a long time. I don't want to speculate too much ... my preference is that I'm not into the artificially elongated 'will they or won't they.' If you want to do it, go for it. Don't be cute. My only preference is to try and remain unpredictable and avoid TV cliches."
