List of Homeland characters
This is a list of characters appearing in the Showtime drama Homeland.
Appearances
Main cast
Recurring cast
;NotesMain characters
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.Carrie Mathison
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.
Nicholas Brody
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.Brody takes advantage of his public popularity, and support from Vice President Walden, to win a seat in the United States House of Representatives. He continues to secretly work for Abu Nazir until he is discovered by the CIA. Carrie, using her emotional connection with Brody, is able to convince him to turn against al-Qaeda. Using Brody's inside information, a major al-Qaeda terrorist attack is thwarted by the CIA. However, Brody is made to look like the perpetrator of a second bombing at CIA Headquarters on 12/12, making him the most wanted man in America. He goes into hiding in Canada.
Jessica Brody
Played by Morena Baccarin, Jessica Brody is the wife of Nicholas Brody and mother of Dana and Chris. In the eight years her husband is gone and presumed dead, Jessica does not remarry but does engage in a serious relationship with Brody's best friend Mike Faber, which is abruptly ended when Brody returns home. The reunited couple struggle with their marriage. He resents Jessica's relationship with Mike. Jessica, in turn, learns of Brody's affair with Carrie. As his behavior becomes increasingly bizarre, Jessica suspects further infidelity. When Brody is off on a CIA-sanctioned mission, Jessica and Mike's relationship is rekindled; Jessica and Mike had fallen in love. Nicholas and Jessica eventually come to a mutual agreement that their marriage cannot continue.David Estes
Played by David Harewood. The director of the CIA's Counterterrorism Center. He has a tense relationship with Carrie, partly due to a past affair with her which led to the end of Estes' marriage. He fires Carrie upon learning of her bipolar disorder and her multiple contraventions of CIA protocols, but later on, he must reinstate her when she is proven to have been right about Brody. Saul discovers that Estes and then-CIA-director Walden ordered a drone strike launched in Abu Nazir's homeland, resulting in the destruction of a nearby school and that his efforts to undermine Carrie were actually an attempt to cover up the incident. Estes makes plans to have Brody assassinated once Abu Nazir is neutralized, and when Saul opposes this action, he threatens Saul's job. He is among those killed when a bomb explodes at the CIA building.Mike Faber
Played by Diego Klattenhoff, Mike Faber is Nick Brody's best friend—they served in the Marines together. While Brody is being held as a prisoner-of-war, he is presumed to be dead. Mike gets involved in a long-term relationship with Nick's wife Jessica, becoming very attached to her and the Brody family. The relationship is abruptly ended when Brody returns. The Brody family still comes to depend on Mike when they are neglected by Nicholas. Mike and a fellow Marine, Lauder Wakefield, feel that Brody may have had something to do with the murder of Tom Walker and investigate the matter. He eventually confronts Jessica with his theories.Chris Brody
Played by Jackson Pace, Chris Brody is the son of Nicholas and Jessica and younger brother to Dana. Chris is too young to remember Nicholas before he went into service, and struggles to connect with his returned father at times. When his father's behavior becomes more erratic, Chris finds comfort in the familiar presence of Mike Faber.Dana Brody
Played by Morgan Saylor, Dana Brody is the daughter of Nicholas and Jessica and older sister to Chris. Intelligent and strong-minded, Dana is the member of the family with whom Brody feels most comfortable after his return home. She is the only one to whom Brody freely admits his conversion to the Muslim faith. Dana exhibits some resentment towards her mother for having had an affair with Mike. When Brody is about to detonate his suicide vest at the State Department, Carrie convinces Dana to call him and "talk him down", which convinces Brody to not go through with the attack, though Dana is left not having any clue what Brody was planning to do.While she is on a date with her boyfriend Finn Walden, Finn is driving recklessly, fatally strikes a pedestrian, then drives away. Dana is overcome with guilt. Her relationship with her father deteriorates when she wants to report the accident to the police, but her father doesn't allow it, much to her disillusionment.
When she watches the news showing that her father was turned in Afghanistan, Dana attempts suicide and is eventually placed in a psychiatric hospital, where she meets Leo Carras. The two begin a relationship and eventually run off together until Dana learns that Leo was possibly involved in the death of his own brother, which Leo told her was a suicide. After this, Dana changes her last name to disassociate herself from her father and moves out of the house. Psychologically ruined and disillusioned, she ends up cleaning motel rooms, seeing Brody one final time before he goes to Iran. Her father tries to reconnect with her, but Dana rejects him and claims to never want to see him again.
Saul Berenson
Played by Mandy Patinkin, Saul Berenson is Middle East Division Chief of the CIA. Saul recruited a young Carrie Mathison into the CIA, and is a friend and mentor to her. His measured approach to his job often clashes with Carrie's drastic, impulsive methods.Saul is instrumental in getting cooperation from captured terrorist Aileen Morgan, which leads to information that implicates Tom Walker. Saul later runs afoul of CIA Director Estes when he discovers that Estes and then-CIA director William Walden ordered a drone strike that hit a school in Iraq and have been taking measures to cover up the incident. After an operation with Carrie in Beirut, Saul finds a copy of the confession tape that Brody recorded. This leads to Saul, Carrie, and Estes forming a task force attempting to use Brody as a re-doubled agent against al-Qaeda. Saul discovers that Estes' plan is to have Brody killed once the operation is finished and tries to put a stop to it which leads to further friction with Estes, almost losing his job. However, Peter Quinn, the black ops operative hired by Estes to kill Brody, decides not to go through with the plan once Abu Nazir is killed. When Estes is killed at the bombing of the memorial service for William Walden at Langley on December 12, Saul becomes the acting director of the CIA.
Once he is director, Saul and Carrie almost immediately put into action a plan to lure out the mastermind behind the 12/12 attacks in which Carrie is outed to the press as having bipolar disorder and having had an affair with Brody. Appearing vulnerable, Carrie is contacted by representatives of an international bank with ties to the middle east, as Saul predicted, who ask her to inform on CIA operations to their client, Majid Javadi, Iran intelligence Chief and the orchestrator of the 12/12 attack who Saul has a troubled history with. When they were both getting their starts in their respective nations, Saul and Javadi worked together during the Iranian hostage crisis, but Javadi betrayed Saul by having several hostages who Saul was going to extradite back to the states killed. In response, Saul helped Javadi's wife and son escape to America. Saul, with the help of Fara Sherazi, finds that Javadi embezzled millions from his own nation to fund the attack, making him an enemy of the Iranian state should this ever be revealed. Using this as leverage to make Javadi a CIA asset, Saul sends Javadi back to Iran. At the same time, Saul clashes with Senator Andrew Lockhart, who is soon to replace him as director, and he discovers that his wife is having an affair with a man named Alan Bernard.
Saul manages to bring Brody, now a heroin addict after his captivity in Caracas, back to the United States before revealing the entirety of his master plan to Carrie. He intends to send Brody to Iran where he will tell the government that he wishes for asylum there. Once in Tehran, Brody is to kill Danesh Akbari, leader of the Revolutionary Guard, who will be replaced by Javadi, ushering in a regime change in the nation. Brody is brought back to health, overcoming his addiction and training with several members of a special ops unit in preparation of the assignment. Meanwhile, Saul finds that Alan is an Israeli intelligence agent hired by Lockhart to spy on him, and Saul uses this info to give himself more time in office to see through the mission to the plan. Brody manages to make it into Tehran, where his first attempt to kill Akbari fails, forcing Brody to keep his cover until another opportunity arises, though this makes Lockhart and Dar Adal believe that Brody has no intention to go through with the mission. However, Brody arranges a meeting with Akbari, and kills him in his office before fleeing. Carrie takes him to a safe house, but Lockhart gives Brody up to the Iranians in order to ensure Javadi's public image. Brody is executed in Tehran, but despite this, Saul's plan is a success. He is fired from the CIA once Lockhart takes office, and then begins work in the private sector.
William Walden
Played by Jamey Sheridan, William Walden is the Vice President of the United States and a former director of the CIA. Both Brody and Abu Nazir hold him accountable for the drone strike that killed Nazir's son Issa. He is killed during a meeting with Brody when Nazir's associates tamper with his pacemaker. Brody agrees to provide the pacemaker's serial number for Nazir in exchange for releasing Carrie as his hostage. Walden attended the University of Notre Dame and was an All-American football player there.Virgil Piotrowski
Played by David Marciano, Virgil Piotrowski is a freelance surveillance expert and former CIA employee. He is one of Carrie's few friends. Carrie sometimes enlists him to help her with surveillance operations.Abu Nazir
Played by Navid Negahban, Abu Nazir is a high-ranking operative, possibly the operational leader, of al-Qaeda. Nazir oversees the captivity of prisoners of war Nicholas Brody and Tom Walker, and over a period of years is able to persuade them both to turn on the U.S. and align with al-Qaeda. Issa, Nazir's son, is killed by a CIA-sanctioned drone strike. The incident is pivotal in shifting the allegiance of Brody, and also leads Nazir to swear revenge on the CIA and its director. He sends Brody and Walker back to the U.S. with a plot to kill Walden and many other officials but it is thwarted by the efforts of Carrie Mathison.Brody is captured by the CIA and forced to work with them against al-Qaeda. Nazir infiltrates the United States himself with a new plan. First, he orchestrates the assassination of Vice President Walden, forcing Brody to assist by holding Carrie as a hostage. He then sacrifices himself, along with his cell, in order to give the appearance that the terror threat has been neutralized. However, Nazir had planted a bomb in Brody's car, and one of his associates detonates the bomb at the CIA's headquarters, killing 219 people and wiping out much of the CIA's infrastructure, and setting up the innocent Brody as the culprit.
Peter Quinn
Played by Rupert Friend, Peter Quinn is originally introduced as a CIA analyst brought in by Estes to head up the Brody task force. He clashes with Carrie as she is not very willing to take orders from him, but they come to respect each other's skills. Quinn is later revealed by Saul to be a black ops officer hired by Estes to assassinate Brody once Abu Nazir is neutralized. He ends up refusing to kill Brody, realizing that carrying out the job would only be advancing Estes' interests, and knowing the effect it would have on Carrie.Quinn was later assigned to the CIA station in Islamabad, and saw action during the hunt for Saul Berenson and Haissam Haqqani's assault on the US embassy, where his actions saved the lives of many Americans. After Haqqani escaped, the US made the decision to break off ties with Pakistan and the embassy was evacuated; despite orders to evacuate, Quinn remained in Islamabad and tracked Haqqani to a heavily guarded apartment complex in Islamabad and was going to explode a pipe bomb under Haqquani's car but Carrie got in the way so he had to call it off.
In Berlin, Quinn was initially assigned to investigate a leak of classified documents dealing with cooperation between the CIA and German intelligence. Saul later recruited him for an off-the-books operation to target ISIS terrorists in Berlin, an operation that was complicated when Carrie's name ended up on his list. Quinn later rescued from an ambush by assailants that turn out to be Russian intelligence officers. He later infiltrated the ISIS cell and discovered their plan to use chemical weapons in Berlin. He attempts to convince them to stop the attack, but the ISIS recruits decide to use him as the test subject for their chemical weapon. One of the terorists gets qualms about the operation and injects Quinn with an antidote. The rest of the ISIS recruits make their way to the Berlin train station; Carrie is able to intercept Qasim and convince him to desist. When his partner Bibi kills Qasim, Carrie shoots and kills him. Quinn is later hospitalized and suffers a massive brain hemorrhage, leaving little chance for survival.
Having returned to the US, Quinn was treated for PTSD at a hospital in Brooklyn. He rejected any help from Carrie, who was told by the medical staff that it was probably better if she did not visit him. However, he later left the facility and ended up in the company of prostitutes and high on drugs. He was robbed of his government check and after Carrie was notified that he was missing she located him and attempted to return him to the hospital, he violently resisted it and she decided to let him move into the apartment downstairs from her and Frannie. He soon became convinced that a person who lived across from Carrie was spying on the house but his attempts to tell Carrie fell on deaf ears. Following Sekou Bah's death, the press convened on Carrie's house while she was out, leaving Frannie in his care, and he tried to protect Frannie and her nanny, which led to a shoot out between him and the authorities. They eventually managed to take him into custody and Frannie was soon taken away by social services, who felt that Quinn's actions had put her in danger.
Quinn managed to drive to a diner near Queens where he met with an old friend before arriving at a suburban house, which he had known from his days working as a Black Ops agent. He called Carrie to meet them but the man who had killed Astrid tracked them down and Quinn killed him via multiple blows to the face. Carrie later found another van in the garage similar to the one Sekou was driving when he died and they soon realized the house was rigged with a bomb. She and Quinn survived the blast while other agents were killed. Carrie and Quinn went to Brooklyn to talk with President-elect Keane and it was discovered that there was a bomb in the hotel. Quinn managed to get them to safety but was killed in a hail of bullets.It is later mentioned that Quinn had a memorial.
Mira Berenson
Played by Sarita Choudhury. Mira is the wife of Saul Berenson. She leaves Saul to move to New Delhi, but she returns to the U.S. after the CIA bombing. She stays at Saul's side throughout his tenure as acting director of the CIA, though she briefly begins a relationship with another man, Alain Bernard, who is later revealed spying on Saul, acting on behalf of Andrew Lockhart. After breaking it off with Alain, she recommits to her marriage to Saul, which continues after his tenure at the CIA ends and he begins work in the private sector. However, after Saul rejoins the CIA, Mira files for divorce. They meet again in New York, as Saul prepares to go into hiding; their conversation causes Saul to reconsider.Andrew Lockhart
Played by Tracy Letts. Senator Andrew Lockhart leads the committee investigating the bombing of the CIA. At a hunting retreat led by the White House Chief of Staff, Lockhart is revealed to be the nominee for director of the CIA to replace Saul. Lockhart clashes with Saul while the latter is still director, and hires an Israeli intelligence agent, Alan Bernard, to spy on him, a scheme which Saul uncovers.Dar Adal
Played by F. Murray Abraham. He is a black ops specialist who had been a friend of Saul 18 years prior. He is the handler of Peter Quinn, who is lent to David Estes to terminate Nicholas Brody. After the 12/12 bombing, Saul, in his remaining time as director of the CIA, keeps Dar Adal as a close ally, helping him during the course of Saul's plan to instigate a regime change in Iran. Dar Adal grows to great prominence during season three. Dar has Carrie detained and is primarily responsible for keeping her locked up in a psychiatric facility. He was also behind the operation to kill or capture the Langley bomber, who was still residing in the United States. Carrie wanted to ensure the survival of the perpetrator to exonerate her beloved Brody, who had been blamed for the 12/12 bombing and nearly compromised the mission. Dar gave the order to Quinn to have Carrie shot in order to prevent the mission's failure, which landed Carrie back in the hospital. Later in the season, Brody is brought back to the United States from Venezuela and experiences heroin withdrawals. Saul only has six days before Lockhart is confirmed as the new director of the CIA and must get Brody back to full recovery to implement his regime change plan. Dar recommends they use ibogaine, a drug that speeds up the withdrawal process while also causing violent and severe hallucinations. In the season finale, Saul promised Carrie that he would have her and Brody extracted from Iran immediately after Brody completed his objectives. However, Javadi believed that the capture and execution of Brody would give further credence to the plot. Unbeknownst to Saul, Dar informs Lockhart and gets approval from the president to take command of the CIA 11 hours before he is to be confirmed. Lockhart gives the orders to Javadi to have Brody arrested and publicly executed.Fara Sherazi
Played by Nazanin Boniadi, Fara Sherazi is a young professional Persian analyst, who assists Saul in linking the Langley bombing to Majid Javadi. She lives with her father, who was for a time unaware that she worked for the CIA. She has an uncle in Tehran, who assists Carrie when she goes there.Martha Boyd
Played by Laila Robins, Martha Boyd is the United States ambassador to the Islamic Republic of Pakistan.Otto Düring
Played by Sebastian Koch, Otto Düring is the founder of the Düring Foundation, a philanthropic organization which is headquartered in Berlin. He hires Carrie Mathison to be his head of security.Allison Carr
Played by Miranda Otto, Allison Carr is the CIA station chief in Berlin. She turns out to actually be working for Russian intelligence. Flashbacks show that in 2005, Allison was in love with an operative who claimed to have stolen $8 million and offered to run away with her with the money. Allison agreed only to find out that it was all a setup to blackmail her into helping keep an eye on the CIA for Russia.Elizabeth Keane
Played by Elizabeth Marvel, Elizabeth Keane is the President of the United States. Before she takes office, Keane enlists Carrie as a foreign policy advisor, while things are complicated by Dar Adal's attempts to manipulate her agenda. After a special ops group attempts to assassinate her, Keane lashes out at the U.S. intelligence community, ordering dozens of arrests, including Saul Berenson. She ultimately resigns the Presidency.David Wellington
David Wellington is the White House Chief of Staff during Elizabeth Keane's tenure as President.Max Piotrowski
Played by Maury Sterling, Max Piotrowski is Virgil's brother. Max works with Virgil in his security consulting business. He is depicted as socially awkward.Brett O'Keefe
Played by Jake Weber, Brett O'Keefe is an influential radio personality. He also presides over an underground corporation that deploys vast amounts of fake social media accounts in order to influence the general population with his agenda; one of his main orders of business is to discredit Keane before she takes office.Tasneem Qureishi
Portrayed by Nimrat Kaur, Tasneem Qureishi is an Inter-Services Intelligence agent in Pakistan, and later the organization's Director-General.Haissam Haqqani
Played by Numan Acar, Haissam Haqqani is a Taliban commander, and later the organization's leader.Recurring characters
The following is a list of recurring characters who have appeared in at least three episodes of a season or in at least two episodes of two different seasons. The characters are listed in the order they were first credited in the series.Helen Walker
Played by Afton Williamson, Helen Walker is the wife of Tom Walker. Aware of his terrorist affiliations, Helen Walker initially agrees to cooperate with the CIA to apprehend her husband Tom. However, at a critical moment, she tips off Tom, allowing him to narrowly escape.Maggie Mathison
Played by Amy Hargreaves, Margaret "Maggie" Mathison is Carrie Mathison's sister. Maggie is usually the person that Carrie goes to for support when having personal problems. As a medical doctor, Maggie secretly obtains medication for Carrie to control her bipolar disorder.Latif Bin Walid
Played by Alok Tewari, the majordomo for Prince Farid who was an agent for Abu Nazir.Raqim Faisel
Played by Omid Abtahi, Raqim Faisel, along with his girlfriend Aileen Morgan, are low-level al-Qaeda operatives living in the United States. He is a professor at Bryden University in Washington D.C.As part of an al-Qaeda plot, Morgan and Faisel are assigned to purchase a house within sniper range of a Marine One landing pad. The CIA discovers the house, sending them on the run. Faisel is murdered by unknown assailants while he and Aileen are hiding out at a motel.