RELATED | Homeland Exclusive: Two Original Castmembers Not Returning as Regulars in Season 4
"All [the] evidence points to his death, undoubtedly," exec producer Alex Gansa tells TVLine, dismissing speculation that Brody's public hanging was somehow staged. "I encourage [doubters] to watch the episode again. The issue has been settled. He is not unkillable."
One burning question down, another 10 to go. Read on as Gansa addresses the other big unsolved mysteries coming out of Sunday's Season 3 finale, including the future of Mandy Patinkin's Saul and Rupert Friend's Quinn.
TVLINE | It's no secret that you considered killing off Brody sooner than Season 3, but Showtime pushed back. Was everyone on the same page this time around?
Yes, there was pushback last season. There was pushback at the end of the first season. There was pushback this season. But all done in very good spirit of, "Let's make sure this is the right call." For example, last season, I am so grateful that Showtime convinced us that we had more story to tell, because indeed we did have more story to tell. I don't think it was enough story for an entire season, which is why you didn't see Brody in every episode. But, my God, the last sweep of episodes -- from Episode 8 on to the finale -- there was stuff still to go through with Brody and Carrie. And I'm grateful that they convinced us of such. But there was a real strong feeling, both at Showtime and in the story room, that we've crossed a lot of emotional ground and the time was right. Hopefully, it was the correct decision.
RELATED | Homeland Season 3 Finale Recap: Who Died? Who Left the CIA? Who Moved?
TVLINE | Why did you decide not to show Jessica or Dana's reaction to learning of Brody's death and that he died a hero?
Neither Carrie nor Saul were in a position to tell the Brody family the truth. The secrecy surrounding the operation -- the idea that Brody was actually a CIA agent operating on their behalf -- is something that had to be kept secret. It was the whole foundation of the Iranian/American détente. If the Iranians realized that this was a CIA operation, if there was a breath or a whisper of that, everything would go up in smoke. So Dana and Jessica would never be allowed to be privy to that. And indeed if Carrie had been successful in convincing Lockhart to put Brody's star up on the wall, it would have been an anonymous star. Ultimately, it came down to the fact that if you couldn't tell the Brody family this piece of information, their responses would be no different than the responses that we've seen from them already. Dana would be fine. "OK, he's dead; good riddance." Which is pretty much what she told him in the hotel. We felt it would be a retread, and not as compelling as chronicling Carrie's reaction to his death.
TVLINE | Even though Morena Baccarin and Morgan Saylor are not returning as regulars, might we see them return as guest stars in Season 4?
We should always hold out that possibility. It's a definite possibility. I would not be surprised if you saw Jessica or Dana one or two more times.
TVLINE | Will Season 4 include Mandy Patinkin?
It definitely includes Mandy Patinkin. That I can tell you. And the rationale is, [Saul] is now a private contractor, and the CIA does outsource so much intelligence work to these private contractors. So even though Saul may not have a desk at Langley anymore, his interface with the agency is going to be big.
TVLINE | And Rupert Friend?
One of the ideas that we're really toying around with next year is [to have] Carrie go and do what she was trained to do, and that is be a case officer in a foreign country. And as she mentioned to Sen. Lockhart, she gets to choose her own people. So Quinn, Fara... Virgil and possibly Max may come along with her. We get to bring some of our familiar faces overseas.
TVLINE | How did real life inroads with Iran affect storyline, or was everything locked by then?
Everything was locked by then. And we were a little nervous about how quickly events were transpiring on the ground in Geneva. This détente had been reached and we were worried we were a little behind the news. But, ultimately, I don't think we were.
TVLINE | Is it possible Homeland's fourth season could be a show about a working mother?
Absolutely. That's certainly one direction it could go -- and an interesting one. I don't think you'd spend a lot of time [on that], but who knows? Read Valerie Plame's book about being a case officer and having a child. It's an interesting dynamic.