US president will be 'part Trump, part Clinton' in Homeland season 6
The new series of the hit CIA thriller is set to focus on the immediate aftermath of a US election
Homeland's sixth season is premiering later than usual, but showrunner Alex Gansa has a very good reason: the upcoming run is focussed around a US general election.
The series takes place between Election Day and the presidential inauguration, and will air just after America has voted in its real-life president in November.
The show has cast a woman, actress Elizabeth Marvel, to play the president but that doesn't mean Gansa is assuming Hillary Clinton will win the election...
"Every season, when we're developing stories, we're terrified of being counterfactual by the time we air," says Gansa. "This year, we're hedging our bets a little bit. She's a little bit Hillary, a little bit Donald Trump and a little bit Bernie Sanders."
"If you listen to Donald Trump, there are these people who run the government from administration to administration and they have completely screwed the world up. There is part of that in our president. There is also a little bit of Hillary, in terms of she's a pragmatist and knows Washington from the inside," he tells Hollywood Reporter.
As to what else we can expect from season six, Gansa says: "The most life-altering, country-changing event in the world happened in New York on September 11th. We are still dealing with the reaction to that as a country. Someone might argue there was an overreaction in the aftermath. ... Those are the things we're dealing with this season."
And – #spoiler! – if you want to know what part Quinn may or may not play in the upcoming episodes, keep reading...
"Quinn is alive," confirms Gansa. "I can say that much, but we really want to be careful about revealing what his condition is. He suffered a major stroke last season. You are going to see a very changed and altered Quinn this year. I think Quinn, this coming season, will really represent a profound and familiar casualty of the war on terror for our audience. What he endured last year is different from what he'll go through this year. This year will be suffused with his daily relationship with Claire's character."
Homeland will be back on Channel 4 in 2017
