Confirming those early reports of a two-season renewal, Showtime has officially ordered seasons 7 and 8 of its hit CIA procedural Homeland ahead of the sixth season returning in January. There’s also word of the network continuing to mine the saga of the Donovans, with hardboiled drama Ray Donovan now on course to return late next year for season 5.
That extends Liev Schreiber’s run as the title hardman for another year, and given the actor is coming off the back of a second consecutive Emmy nomination, we’re excited to see how Donovan’s arc develops in 2017.
As for Homeland, Claire Danes is set to reprise her defining role as Carrie Mathison throughout the next two years, though next up for Danes’ capricious lead is the inevitable “transitional period” between election day and the inauguration, with Elizabeth Marvel’s President-elect due to be sworn into the Oval Office.
Don’t expect a Hillary Clinton proxy with Marvel’s character, however, as Showtime president David Nevins considers Homeland to be a show that is “constantly reinventing itself… since it’s very much about this Intelligence world. More than most, this is a show that has an open-ended expiration date, just because of the subject matter.”
Homeland season 6 is penciled in for a premiere on Showtime come January 2017. Ray Donovan, meanwhile, is currently midway through its fourth season on the air, with production on the fifth due to begin at some stage next year.
