Damian Lewis in HOMELAND - Season 3 | ©2013 Showtime/Kent Smith

Showtime’s HOMELAND returns for its third season on tonight at 9 PM. Its first season won Emmy Awards for Outstanding Drama Series, Outstanding Lead Actor in a Drama Series (Damien Lewis as Nicholas Brody), Outstanding Lead Actress in a Drama Series (Claire Danes as Carrie Mathison) and Outstanding Writing in a Drama Series (Alex Gansa & Howard Gordon and Gideon Raff for the pilot), along with Outstanding Casting for a Drama Series and Outstanding Single-Camera Picture Editing for a Drama Series.

On Sunday, September 22, HOMELAND and Danes received a second Outstanding Lead Actress in a Drama Emmy, and the late Henry Brommell was awarded a posthumous Emmy for Outstanding Writing of a Drama Series (the episode “Q&A”). HOMELAND‘s other Season 2 Emmy nominations included Outstanding Drama,  Outstanding Lead Actor (Lewis again), Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Drama Series (Mandy Patinkin as Saul Berenson), Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Drama Series (Morena Baccarin as Jessica Brody), Outstanding Guest Actor in a Drama Series (Rupert Friend as Peter Quinn), Outstanding Directing in a Drama Series (Lesli Linka Glatter for “Q&A”), Outstanding Cinematography, Outstanding Casting and Outstanding Sound Mixing.

Howard Gordon, who with his writing/executive-producing partner adapted HOMELAND from Gideon Raff’s Israeli series HATUFIM, is at a Beverly Hilton Hotel poolside party thrown by Turner Networks during the Television Critics Association press tour. Although Gordon is here for a different network, he’s happy to talk about his Showtime hit.

ASSIGNMENT X: Are you pleased that pretty much everybody on HOMELAND, including the supporting players, got nominated this time?

HOWARD GORDON: It’s fantastic. I mean, even Rupert Friend. Can you believe this? It really speaks to the quality of this cast, not just as individuals, but as an ensemble.

AX: With HOMELAND starting Season 3, are you where you thought you would be at this point in story terms?

GORDON: I don’t think we had any idea we would make it this far, so the answer is, we had no idea. And I think what Alex and the team have done brilliantly is really honor these characters and what’s happened to them, and has had the courage to take time developing the story in a really intricate way that I think really brings to mind [writer John] le Carre in a way that no other season has.

AX: Is there anything you can tease about the new season of HOMELAND?

GORDON: It’s really, really exciting. Like I said, Alex and the team really kept the story small and let it build. It didn’t feel like it needed to come out of the box in an unreasonable way.

AX: Are you incorporating anything that’s happened lately in the real world into the story?

GORDON: The real world is absolutely in it.

AX: What are you making for TNT?

GORDON: LEGENDS, which is not on until a year from now, which is actually a wonderful thing, because we have the time to make it right. It stars Sean Bean as a deep cover operative –

AX: Who lives through the end of first season? People have reason to fear for the longevity of anyone played by Sean Bean.

GORDON: He will live through the end of first season, I hope. He’s basically a deep cover operative for the FBI. His name is Martin Odom, and he’s absolutely the best at being other people and occupying these other identities for long periods of time, with the result that he’s kind of been a shitty husband and a shitty father, his marriage broke up. It turns out that he may not even be Martin Odom. In the pilot, there’s a suggestion that he may not even be who he thinks he is.

AX: So it’s a little bit BOURNE IDENTITY?

GORDON: A little bit BOURNE, a little bit MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE, because there’s a team who support him, and on a weekly basis – a la MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE – they are essentially cons, the way MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE had that contract with the audience, where they were so excited to see how they did what they did. So it’s a team, but it has this underlying existential mystery.

AX: Is there anything else you’d like to say right now?

GORDON: I saw Ron [Perlman] at Comic-Con. I love Ron. I just know we share BEAUTY AND THE BEAST.

AX: Can you write him into one of your shows?

GORDON: I’d write him into anything.

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Related:TV Review: HOMELAND – Season 3 – “Tin Man Is Down” – Season Premiere

Related: TV Review: HOMELAND – Season 2 – “The Choice” – Season Finale

Related: Exclusive Interview with HOMELAND executive producer and co-creator Howard Gordon

Related: Interview with HOMELAND star Damian Lewis on Season 2 and more

Related: Exclusive interview with HOMELAND star Morena Baccarin on Season 2

Related: TV Review: HOMELAND – Season 2 – “The Smile” – Season Premiere

Related: Exclusive Interview with HOMELAND creators Howard Gordon and Alex Gansa

Related: Exclusive Interview with AWAKE executive producer Howard Gordon and star Wilmer Valderrama

Related: Exclusive Interview with HOMELAND star Damian Lewis
Related: Exclusive Interview with HOMELAND star Morena Baccarin
Related: Exclusive Interview with HOMELAND star Claire Danes
Related: TV Review: HOMELAND – Season 1 premiere 

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Article: Exclusive interview with HOMELAND executive producer Howard Gordon on Season 3

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