Homeland's final season delayed until February 2020

TVLine

Showtime announced this morning that the Claire Danes-led CIA drama will return for its eighth and final season on Feb. 9, 2020. The return date means that Homeland will have been off the air for nearly two years. Homeland's Season 7 finale aired on April 29, 2018. Showtime Entertainment co-president Gary Levine said the delay was caused by "ambitious" production demands -- not "missteps." “Homeland is an ambitious series — especially in its final season,” Levine said at the TV press tour. “(Showrunner) Alex (Gansa) wants to go out proudly, and that has involved production in multiple countries at times and in places that have some issues. It just takes time." Levine added: There have been no missteps. It’s been a relatively smooth process. But it’s a very ambitious production schedule and it has taken more time than we (anticipated).” Showtime also revealed details of the Season 8 plot, which finds Danes' Carrie Mathison "recovering from months of brutal confinement in a Russian gulag. Her body is healing, but her memory remains fractured — which is a problem for Saul (Mandy Patinkin), now National Security Advisor to the newly ascendant President Warner (Emmy and Golden Globe winner Beau Bridges). The top priority of Warner’s young administration is an end to the “forever war” in Afghanistan, and Saul has been dispatched to engage the Taliban in peace negotiations. But Kabul teems with warlords and mercenaries, zealots and spies — and Saul needs the relationships and expertise that only his protégé can provide. Against medical advice, Saul asks Carrie to walk with him into the lion’s den — one last time."