‘Homeland’ Season 5 Intel: Time Jump and Another Reboot in the Works?

Apart from ending on a whimper, few would argue of Homeland’s fourth season that a rebooted focus on Carrie as an international intelligence officer revitalized the Emmy-winner out of its Brody boredom, but will the same hold true of Season 5? The Showtime drama’s producers are apparently planning a major time-jump for the next run, along with literal and figurative changes to Carrie’s landscape.

Speaking at the recent PaleyFest panel, Homeland producer Alex Gansa surprisingly offered up of Season 5 that two and a half years will have passed since Season 4 finale “Long Time Coming,” and perhaps most shocking of all, Carrie will “no longer be an intelligence officer.” Whether we’d see Claire Danes’ character in a more private sector of spywork remains to be seen, but it’s certainly an unexpected shift for the series.

Additionally, Season 5 will likely shoot in Europe, “probably in Germany,” which might well stand in for any number of countries, as a South African shoot doubled for Pakistan this past year. Writer Chip Johannesson cryptically offered that the writing staff’s yearly trip to Washington D.C. may have steered them toward interest in a Syrian focus, though Gansa also noted that Johannesson and fellow writer Alex Cary would take a leave of absence from the show next season.

We don’t yet know who of the Homeland core cast would return for Carrie’s European adventures outside the CIA, but will a Season 5 reboot keep the creative juices flowing? What politically charged countries might steer the Showtime drama this year?