HOMELAND at TCA 2012 Live-Blog

The cast and producers of HOMELAND will soon be taking the stage at the Television Critics Association, and I’ll be live-blogging the panel starting at 4:20 PM PT/7:20 PM ET.

[Note: Many reporters have seen the season 2 premiere, and if the panel dives into specifics about the hour, the live-blog may be a little bit vaguer than normal.]

4:30 PM: We just finished the sizzle reel for season 2. Now the producers are talking about rejected ideas for how to rope Carrie back into the storylines. “We thought of a lot of things before we settled on what we ended up with,” HOMELAND EP Alex Gansa says.

4:32 PM: Damian Lewis says he found out last year at midseason about Brody’s attempt to blow himself up. “Brody made a mission statement” at the end of the last season to try and do this in a non-violent way. However, Lewis doesn’t think things are going to end up going so well: “Essentially, he’s everyone’s bitch. He’s pretty fucked.”

4:34 PM: “She’s been outed as a person with this condition and that has altered her,” Claire Danes says of Carrie in season 2. She says Carrie has been “humbled” and is “suffering from a crisis of confidence.”

4:36 PM: “You’ll see in the second episode, that’s where we spent the bulk of our time — in Israel shooting,” Gansa says.

4:40 PM: “If I took my characters home with me, half of my life would be a misery,” Danes says.

4:41 PM: “Claire has a wicked smile on her,” Gansa says, of a very important moment in the premiere. (He also says the premiere is called “The Smile.”)

4:43 PM: “When I’m asked to consult on matters of homeland security, I drop everything and go,” Lewis jokes of meeting the President.

 4:44 PM: “Here comes Brody, all screwed up, back in her life,” Morena Baccarin says of playing Jessica in season 1.

“It was hard for me, too!” Lewis retorts.

4:47 PM: “She’s such a little shit!” Baccarin jokes about her character’s daughter. Seriously though, she says “the show constantly challenges me” in reference to an important scene in the premiere. Danes says she has faith in her costar.

4:50 PM: “The first three episodes, she’s actively grappling with [being ‘wrong’ last season],” Danes teases.

4:51 PM: Danes says they’re halfway through the season and so far her pregnancy hasn’t impacted anything. She jokes, “Carrie remains fervently non-pregnant.”

4:54 PM: The producers are talking about having problems last year with filming in Israel. Apparently the correct fines weren’t paid due to a misunderstanding so the people got a little angry. Danes was ushered out of there and Gansa and other producers had to pay money to get their equipment back.

4:56 PM: “And look what happened!” Lewis cracked pointing to Danes’ pregnant stomach when a critic brought up their close working conditions for “The Weekend.” It seems there will be another important moment for them this season, but “less romantically inclined than professionally inclined,” Lewis teases.

5:00 PM: Danes doesn’t anticipate her upcoming baby will impact where she can film next season.

5:01 PM: Lewis is recalling a sketchy situation with someone in North Carolina where a man was questioning whether he was going to play a terrorist. He says he thought he was going to be beaten up by the man.

5:02 PM: Lewis calls it an enormous relief for Brody to not have blown himself up at the end of last season. “I think they’re going to have the same dilemma this season,” Lewis says of whether Brody’s fate will be equally as dire at the end of this year.

5:05 PM: “I adore Mandy [Patinkin] as a man and an actor,” Danes says of her costar. She notes that Saul is Carrie’s conscious and she can’t get away with much if Saul is there.

5:07 PM: “It is interesting the amount of surveillance….it is so persuasive,” Gansa says. “These are the questions the show asks.”

5:09 PM: “It’s a good show, isn’t it?” Lewis asks of HOMELAND.

5:10 PM: Gansa says season 2 is exploring the relationship between Carrie and Brody…it’s less global and more personal.

5:11 PM: “This show has never been about Brody being brainwashed or triggering him with a password,” Gansa says, dispelling the parallels between HOMELAND and THE MANCHURIAN CANDIDATE.

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