List of Homeland characters


This is a list of characters appearing in the Showtime drama television series Homeland.

Appearances

Main cast

Recurring cast

;Notes

Main characters

The following is a list of series regulars who have appeared in one or more of the series' eight seasons. The characters are listed in the order they were first credited in the series.

Carrie Mathison

Played by Claire Danes, Carrie Mathison is a CIA officer and the series' protagonist. Carrie is an intrepid, fiercely devoted agent who often resorts to underhanded or illegal means of chasing leads. She struggles with bipolar disorder, for which she receives treatment from her sister Maggie, a psychiatrist, and has a longstanding mentor relationship with Saul Berenson. While deployed in Iraq prior to the events of the series, Carrie receives intelligence that leads her to suspect rescued American POW Nicholas Brody of being a terrorist, initiating a long and increasingly personal pursuit that defines her career and personal life.
In season 1, Carrie conducts an unauthorized investigation into Brody, becoming obsessed with him and entering a brief romantic relationship. Though her suspicions are correct, Brody exposes her investigation, costing her job. Carrie prevents Brody’s suicide bombing attempt but is led to believe he was innocent, leaving her demoralized and prompting her to undergo electroconvulsive therapy for her bipolar disorder.
In season 2, a confession video implicating Brody brings Carrie back to the CIA. She interrogates and flips him into an asset against al-Qaeda, acting as his handler as their relationship resumes. After being kidnapped by Abu Nazir, Carrie helps facilitate his capture. When Brody is framed for the bombing of the CIA's Langley headquarters, she aids his escape and vows to clear his name.
In season 3, Carrie and Saul orchestrate a plan to turn Iranian official Majid Javadi, the mastermind behind the Langley bombing, by publicly discrediting Carrie and committing her to a psych ward as cover. The operation succeeds, and Brody is brought back to carry out the assassination of a key al-Qaeda figure in Tehran. Carrie convinces him to accept the mission and later reveals she is pregnant with his child. Brody is captured and executed, and Carrie witnesses his public hanging.
In season 4, Carrie becomes CIA station chief in Kabul, leaving her daughter Frannie with her sister Maggie. Known as the “Drone Queen,” she later transfers to Islamabad after botching a strike on Taliban leader Haissam Haqqani, and leads efforts in searching for him, going so far as seducing Haqqani's young nephew to use him as an asset. Disillusioned after learning Saul sanctioned a covert deal with Haqqani, Carrie quits the CIA.
In season 5, Carrie lives in Berlin as a security consultant for a nonprofit, with her daughter and boyfriend Jonas. After uncovering Russian infiltration of the CIA station, she diverts her efforts to rescue Peter Quinn, who suffers a sarin attack and a debilitating stroke. Though she stops a major terrorist plot, Carrie declines to return to the CIA.
In season 6, Carrie works at a New York nonprofit while secretly advising President-elect Elizabeth Keane. She cares for Quinn and loses custody of Frannie after Dar Adal manipulates child services. Quinn uncovers a black ops plot against Keane and dies saving her and Carrie. Carrie later regains custody and briefly serves as a White House advisor before being fired amid Keane’s retaliatory purges.
In season 7, Carrie investigates Keane but learns the Russians are destabilizing the U.S. government. After repeatedly endangering Frannie, she relinquishes custody to Maggie. Carrie and Saul travel to Russia to extract a witness; Carrie is captured while diverting Russian authorities and spends months imprisoned without medication. Saul eventually secures her release, leaving her severely impaired.
In season 8, Carrie recovers in Germany with little memory of her captivity before returning to Kabul to assist in Afghan peace negotiations. After a helicopter crash kills U.S. and Afghan leaders, Carrie works with Russian agent Yevgeny Gromov to recover evidence that could prevent war. She trades the identity of Saul’s longtime Kremlin asset to avert the war and escapes to Russia with Yevgeny. Two years later, Carrie lives in Moscow, having defected, while secretly operating as Saul’s new Russian asset.

Nicholas Brody

Played by Damian Lewis, Nicholas Brody is a former U.S. Marine, the husband of Jessica Brody, and the father of Dana and Chris. Captured by al-Qaeda during a mission in Iraq, he is held as a prisoner of war for eight years, during which he is brutalized and ultimately radicalized by Abu Nazir, who recruits him as a sleeper agent to be sent back to the United States.
In season 1, Brody returns home a national hero but struggles to reintegrate into family life, which is strained by Jessica’s affair with his best friend Mike. Secretly working for Nazir, he begins an affair with CIA officer Carrie Mathison, who suspects him of being a terrorist. Brody successfully reaches a secure bunker with Vice President Walden while wearing a suicide vest, but aborts the attack after an emotional phone call from Dana, leaving without raising suspicion.
In season 2, Brody capitalizes on his public image and the Vice President’s support to win a seat in the U.S. House of Representatives. He continues working for Nazir until the CIA uncovers his role. Carrie persuades him to turn against al-Qaeda, and his intelligence helps prevent a major attack. He is later framed as the perpetrator of the CIA headquarters bombing on 12/12, becoming the most wanted man in America. Carrie helps him flee to Canada, promising to clear his name.
In season 3, Brody resurfaces in Caracas, injured and held by mercenaries with CIA ties, kept addicted to heroin and mentally broken. Saul negotiates his release and, after his recovery, convinces him to carry out an assassination in Tehran to kill IRGC chief Danesh Akbari, enabling Majid Javadi to take his place as a CIA asset. Before leaving, Brody has a final, rejected farewell with Dana. He successfully completes the mission, escapes to a CIA safehouse, and learns from Carrie that she is pregnant with his child. Brody is soon captured by Iranian authorities and executed by public hanging, which Carrie witnesses despite his objections.

Saul Berenson

Played by Mandy Patinkin, Saul Berenson is a veteran CIA intelligence officer, initially serving as Middle East Division Chief. He recruits and mentors Carrie Mathison, forming a close but often strained partnership shaped by his cautious, institutional instincts and her impulsive methods. Deeply committed to his work, Saul’s career comes at the cost of his personal life, including a failing marriage and long-standing family estrangements.
In season 1, Saul dismisses Carrie’s suspicion that rescued POW Nicholas Brody has been turned by Abu Nazir, though he places her on Brody’s debriefing and repeatedly shields her from disciplinary action. He later uncovers her illegal surveillance of Brody and confronts her personal entanglement with him, but grows more convinced by her findings.
In season 2, Saul exposes CIA leadership’s role in covering up a fatal drone strike and discovers Brody’s confession tape, helping form a task force to use Brody as a double agent. After CIA Director David Estes is killed in the Langley bombing on 12/12, Saul becomes acting director.
In season 3, Saul and Carrie execute a plan to expose Majid Javadi, the Iranian intelligence chief behind the 12/12 attacks, by publicly discrediting Carrie to draw him out. Saul leverages Javadi’s past crimes to turn him into a CIA asset and sends him back to Iran. At the same time, Saul clashes with Senator Andrew Lockhart, learns his wife is having an affair, and faces his imminent removal as CIA director. Saul brings a broken, heroin-addicted Brody back from Caracas to carry out a covert mission to assassinate IRGC chief Danesh Akbari and install Javadi in his place. While the operation succeeds geopolitically, Lockhart and Dar Adal undermine Saul by leaking Brody’s location, leading to Brody’s execution. Despite achieving a strategic breakthrough with Iran and gaining damaging intel against Lockhart, Saul prioritizes his relationship with his wife, opting to leave the CIA and move into the private sector.
In season 4, Saul travels to Islamabad, reconnects with ambassador Martha Boyd, and is kidnapped by Taliban leader Haissam Haqqani, who uses him as leverage. Saul later agrees to a covert deal brokered by Dar Adal that spares Haqqani in exchange for Taliban concessions, believing it necessary for long-term stability. When Carrie learns of the deal, she sabotages Saul’s bid to become CIA director, causing a prolonged rift between them.
In season 5, Saul returns to government work amid a surveillance scandal in Berlin. He secretly continues the program after agreeing to shut it down and begins a relationship with station chief Allison Carr, unaware she is a Russian mole. After Carrie exposes Allison’s betrayal, Saul helps orchestrate her interception and death, narrowly containing the Russian operation.
In season 6, Saul advises President-elect Elizabeth Keane during her transition. He investigates Iran’s nuclear compliance through Majid Javadi, only to have Dar Adal manipulate Javadi into misleading Keane. Saul and Carrie expose Dar’s conspiracy, but after an assassination attempt on Keane, she orders mass arrests of federal employees, including Saul.
In season 7, Saul is released and becomes National Security Advisor, overseeing domestic security crises and uncovering a Russian disinformation campaign undermining Keane’s presidency. He and Carrie attempt to extract a key Russian witness; Carrie is captured diverting Russian authorities, and Saul later negotiates her release after months of imprisonment.
In season 8, Saul remains National Security Advisor under President Ralph Warner and leads negotiations to end the war in Afghanistan. After Warner’s death, Saul’s influence wanes under the new administration, but he works with Carrie to prevent war with Pakistan by proving the helicopter crash that killed Warner and the Pakistani president was accidental. When Carrie trades the identity of Saul’s longtime Kremlin asset, Anna Pomerantseva, to avert conflict, Anna commits suicide to avoid capture. Two years later, Carrie defects to Moscow, becoming Saul’s new asset inside the Kremlin.