Showtime Networks Inc.’s President of Entertainment, David Nevins, made the announcement today that the network has given a second season pickup to its drama series Homeland. After four episodes, the series, starring Claire Danes, Damian Lewis, and Mandy Patinkin was seen its viewership steadily climb with each passing episode.
Regarding the greenlight to the second season, Nevins remarked, “Clearly, the overall audience growth from week one to week four demonstrates that this show is hitting a nerve in the cultural zeitgeist. Alex [Gansa] and Howard [Gordon] have created a psychological thriller that holds special relevance in the post 9/11 world. I’m quite confident that its passionate audience will be riveted as the season unfolds and people discover where this story is going.”
Based on the original Israeli series Prisoners of War, Homeland tells the story of Carrie Mathison (Claire Danes), a CIA officer battling her own demons, who becomes convinced that the intelligence that led to the rescue of Nicholas Brody (Damian Lewis), a U.S. soldier who had been missing and presumed dead for eight years, was a setup and may be connected to an Al Qaeda plot to be carried out on American soil.
Homeland debuted as the network’s highest-rated freshman drama series ever, generating 4.4 million viewers across platforms in its first week. Season two will begin production in spring 2012.