This is a list of characters appearing in the Showtime drama Homeland.
The following is a list of series regulars who have appeared in one or more of the series' six seasons. The characters are listed in the order they were first credited in the series.
Played by Claire Danes, Carrie Mathison is a CIA officer who grapples with bipolar disorder. While deployed in Iraq, Carrie receives information leading her to suspect rescued American POW Nicholas Brody of being a terrorist. During a lengthy unauthorized investigation into Brody, she becomes obsessed with him, and the two even have a brief romantic relationship. Her suspicions ultimately being correct, she loses her job when her investigation is exposed by Brody. Carrie successfully stops Brody's suicide bombing attempt, but is unaware she was successful and is instead made to believe that Brody was innocent. Now completely demoralized, she submits herself to electroconvulsive therapy as she is no longer confident in her skills.
When Brody's confession video is discovered, Carrie is brought back into the CIA. She successfully interrogates Brody, getting him to admit his complicity and to agree to work against al-Qaeda rather than be exposed to the world as treasonous. Carrie acts as Brody's handler and their romance is eventually rekindled. She is kidnapped by Abu Nazir on American soil but is instrumental in his subsequent capture and killing by FBI forces. When Brody is framed by al-Qaeda as the perpetrator of the Langley bombing on 12/12, Carrie helps Brody flee to Canada and promises to clear his name.
Played by Damian Lewis, Nicholas Brody is the husband of Jessica Brody and father to Dana and Chris. He is an ex-Marine who was captured by al-Qaeda and held as a POW for eight years in Iraq. Brody, after years of brutal treatment, becomes sympathetic to Abu Nazir's cause during his captivity and agrees to return to the United States as a sleeper agent. Once back in the U.S., Brody has a turbulent relationship with his family, partly due to Jessica's having had an affair with Brody's best friend Mike. Brody has an affair of his own with Carrie Mathison, the CIA officer who suspects him of working for al-Qaeda. According to plan, Brody successfully gets himself into a bunker with the Vice President while wearing a suicide vest, intending to detonate it, but he aborts when Dana calls him, begging him to come home. He leaves the scene with nobody being the wiser.