You might not recognize Carrie Mathison when we catch up with her in Season 5 of Showtime’s hit thriller Homeland. She’s no longer working as an analyst for the CIA; instead, she’s living in Berlin, dating a new man (Alexander Fehling), and working as head of security for a German billionaire. She’s actively raising her daughter Franny. She even smiles sometimes!

But of course, she can’t stay away from the CIA for long: A massive data hack sends the agency scrambling, and Carrie becomes a suspect in the breach, bringing her back into the orbit of CIA lifer Saul Berenson and steely hired gun Quinn. Yahoo TV went to Homeland executive producer Alex Gansa to get the full briefing on what to expect from the new season… and how much longer the show might run.

We pick up two years later, and Carrie’s left the CIA to join the civilian world. Where do we find her when Season 5 opens?

She’s working for a foundation that does good works around the world run by a billionaire philanthropist. And she is his head of security, so she provides security for him when he travels, when he goes to conferences, when he’s in Africa or Asia or the Middle East somewhere. Wherever he is doing his good work, she’s there protecting him. And using all of her contacts and expertise to do so.



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But judging from the trailer, she does still get drawn back into the world of international terrorism, right?

The world remains a dangerous place, regardless of whether she’s an intelligence officer anymore. And the past catches up with her.

We also see Carrie has a new man in her life. She’s in a stable relationship for once!

She’s dating one of the lawyers that also works at the foundation, and they’ve moved in together and they’re raising her daughter together. And he’s divorced, so he has kids as well. He’s the polar opposite of men that Carrie has been attracted to in the past. This is a very stable, secure, level-headed guy. Conventional, in the best sense of the word. And chosen for that reason by her. But he’s the innocent that is exposed to what her life is like. And that’s a brutal truth that he faces.

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Where do we find Quinn in Season 5? It looks like he’s an assassin for hire.

Quinn has spent the last couple of years leading the special-ops team in Syria and Iraq, so he has been at the very tip of the spear down there. And his experiences facing all sorts of militia groups down there, including the Islamic State, has been pretty extreme, as you might imagine. He’s fairly hardened, as a person and as a friend to Carrie.