Homeland's Claire Danes explains "cathartic moment" as show ended
After nine years, eight seasons and 96 episodes, US spy thriller Homeland will come to its final conclusion this April.
The powerful drama introduced us to the character of Carrie Mathison, a CIA case officer with a keen eye for the truth and a dedication to her job.
Actress Claire Danes has now spoken about leaving the much-loved character behind, saying that she experienced a moment of deep emotion while filming her final scene with one of her closest co-stars, Mandy Patinkin, who plays Carrie's mentor Saul Berenson.
"It's not a casual scene," Danes told The Guardian. "I think for me that was my cathartic moment when I realised it was over, because to say goodbye to it in its entirety is just too abstract and too huge. There were some tears – many of them – and we just hugged each other for a really long time."
Related: Homeland boss on why final season was delayed
Danes revealed that she has always felt very invested in her character's life and work and spoke about just how far the cast and crew went to achieve realism in the show – by attending an annual 'spy camp' to learn from current and former intelligence agents and diplomats.
"The days were long and dense," she said. "We'd meet at nine and the revolving door was in constant motion, depositing one story and then another, and they were often told by people who had very different ideologies and political positions.
"It was a huge privilege because you really did get to look into a crystal ball from all these amazing sources and get a fairly clear picture of what our reality might be like in a year's time."
And Danes, who has two young sons with her actor husband Hugh Dancy, admitted that she will miss playing Carrie "so much".
"I loved her," she said. "It was just so nice to play the smartest person in the room, somebody who was so daring and unapologetically ambitious and such a badass. She's not really going away."
Season eight has brought fans full circle as we question whether we can fully rely on Carrie's narration of events, following the early days of the series when nobody knew whether Nicholas Brody (Damian Lewis) was trustworthy.
Homeland season eight continues on Sundays at 9pm on Channel 4 and on Showtime in the US.
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