The American spy-fiction drama series, Homeland concluded with its last and final 8th season in April previous year. Inspired by the Israeli series by Gideon Raff in the name Prisoners of War, Homeland spanned for around nine years since its premiere in 2011, with eight seasons to its credit. Alex Gansa and Howard Gordon developed the thriller series.
The series garnered much appreciation throughout its run and won several accolades for its stellar cast, engaging storyline, and development. The finale season focused on the story of National Security Advisor Saul Berenson. He has been designated to make peace with the Taliban in Afghanistan and appointed the new President Ralph Warner.
With the aid of Carrie Mathison, Saul wants to negotiate peace with Afghanistan as the latter believes that she owns the appropriate knowledge and skills to carry the assignment. However, Carrie is still recovering from her traumatic prisoner phase in Russia.
The Ending of Homeland Season 8 Explained
The final episode 12 of season 8 that had the title- Prisoners of War (title of the series by Gideon Raff that Homeland is based on) was set at a time of two years after the events that occurred in the rest of the episodes of that season. The finale has been the best conclusion to the show, thereby retaining the legacy of the series.
Earlier in the 11th episode, the story was left with several questions for the viewers. Russians were seen denying the presence of the cockpit recording box of the helicopter in which the US president died. But Carrie Mathison is to be praised for giving an appropriate ending to the series. By taking matters into her own hands, Saul questions the Russian authorities about the Black Box at the UN, and on having a word with the Ambassador of Russia, she learns about Carrie’s ultimate foul play.
Along with the Russian Intelligence unit, Carrie gets a powerful, potent solution and catalyst to paralyze a person when mixed. In the evening, she enters Saul’s house, where the latter questions her about her being in the US. But on knowing Carrie knows about the asset, Saul is infuriated and refuses to share the name. Ultimately Carrie is seen paralyzing Saul in the hope latter would reveal the name, but he doesn’t.
Towards the end, it is known the Asset was the head interpreter in Russian Intelligence by the name Anna that was responsible for leaking information to Saul for years. The asset had managed to work as a trustworthy US spy in GRU and paved her way up to leak the information. Eventually, Saul manages to inform Anna everything, and she commits suicide upon knowing that her identity has been revealed. This shocked Carrie and Yevgeny, and they managed to escape.
But the twist is yet to come. After two years of the incident, Saul receives a phone call supposed to be from his asset Anna. But since Anna died 2 years back, the new parcel he had got shocked him. But on realizing the book title and reading its secret message, it became clear that Carrie is now trying to replace Anna and trying her techniques to help Saul. Thus, the ending comes full circle as we see Carrie exchanging secret messages with another spy in the restroom in Moscow. Thus, the asset returns!
Future Speculations for Homeland
With such a bang on the conclusion, avid fans hope to see season 9 of the show soon. The thriller can make the return; however, nothing has been confirmed as such till now. The rumors have been around that the protagonist Carrie Mathison might end her role, but its possibilities are very bleak and uncertain.
The show makers have also been open to the offers from the networks, and giants like Netflix and HBO were also in-game. Fans are also anticipating a spin-off, if not a season, to continue the legacy of Homeland. But these are just possibilities and predictions, and officials will be answerable soon to confirm the news.
