‘Homeland’ season 5: New challenges for Claire Danes, a new setting, and much more

When “Homeland” returns for its fifth season on Showtime in the fall, there is one thing that you can seemingly count on: Changes, and plenty of them.

The Showtime drama was the topic du jour at PaleyFest on Friday night, and there were many valuable pieces of information shared at the event from executive producer Alex Gansa. The first one is that there will be a significant time jump following the end of season 4. The show will shift ahead two and a half years, and the other big shocker to come along with this is that Carrie Mathison (Claire Danes) will no longer be working for the CIA. This is a welcome change; as much of a thrill ride as season 4 was, we still had a hard time buying that someone with her history of mental illness had the sort of access that she did to drones. Yes, she’s great at her job … but still.

Also, Gansa commented that there would be a significant shift when it comes to setting, as well. Filming will be taking place in Germany most likely, but this is not a guarantee that this will be the actual setting for the series. Remember here that season 4 filmed in South Africa, which served mostly as a stand-in for Pakistan. The crew is good enough here to shape and morph almost any particular location into what they see fit.

As for a premiere date, know that the show will most likely start airing in late September. That is slightly earlier than last season, but we imagine it may be due to it moving away from the whole two-hour premiere structure.

We were a rare defender of the much-maligned season 4 finale for the series, so with that, our optimism remains that the show can pull a rabbit out of their hat here.

Let us know what you think about the changes in the comments; also, sign up today to get some other TV updates on all we cover, courtesy of our CarterMatt Newsletter. (Photo: Showtime.)