Claire Danes Talks Homeland Season 4 (and What It's Really Like at Her House When She's Getting Red-Carpet Ready)

On her hit show Homeland, which airs its Season 4 premiere episode this Sunday, Oct. 5, on Showtime, three-time Emmy winner and four-time Golden Globe winner Claire Danes is back as whipsmart CIA Case Officer Carrie Mathison. We sat down with the star at the premiere party hosted by Showtime and Fox 21 in New York City and made her dish on everything Homeland:

Your character on the show is a new mom: How has that changed her?She has a baby, but she hasn’t really assumed her role of motherhood—she’s still traumatized [from last season] by what happened and is not really allowing herself to grieve properly, so she’s running away. And she’s running into work, and she’s kicking ass, but is a little devoid of feeling. She’s very disconnected. She’s alarmingly high functioning. She’s too put together, which is a deviation from what we’ve seen in the past—where she’s been more erratic.

Ultimately, it will be that she has to break and she will become humanized and actually admit to these painful feelings. Right now, not so much. She’ll thaw somehow—but not for a while. That’s her trajectory.

What are the important relationships for Carrie when the show picks up?Quinn and Carrie are at odds with each other. Quinn is eager to get out of the business and is recognizing behavior in Carrie that he himself has had in the past as an assassin—this concern for her that she is drifting to robotic mode. He’s trying to jar her into consciousness and she’s reluctant to engage. Saul is a private contractor. He’s out of the business.

Are Carrie and Saul still in touch?They’re still in touch. He comes to the rescue, which she of course is kind of cranky about. There’s a young asset that Carrie roots in a Pakistani boy, and that becomes a big relationship in the season.

Speaking of seasons, it’s almost awards season again! What’s it like at your house the morning of an awards show?Its always fun, I work with my team and my parents come over and we played with the baby, its kid of low key and a nice excuse to be together as a family actually really.

The season premiere of Homeland airs this Sunday, Oct. 5 at 9 p.m. ET on Showtime.

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