The promos for the upcoming seventh season of Showtime’s Homeland have depicted a paranoid President Keene (Elizabeth Marvel) who “must be stopped.” That has sparked talk of parallels between the fictional president and the real one currently in the White House, Donald Trump.
Keene is not based on Trump, Showtime’s David Nevins and Gary Levine said during the network’s portion of TCA. “The president in Homeland is an interesting amalgamation,” Nevins said. “She is interesting combination of Bernie Sanders-like leftie isolationist. There are certain similarities but the White House on the show is more left than the current administration.. The hard core right wing is represented by the (Brett O’Keefe) character.”
Still, the executives’ description of the fictional president on Homeland does resemble the real one. “This is president who is very isolated in the White House who is finding herself fighting the deep state,” Levine said.
Homeland is currently in the midst of a multiple-season pickup, which includes one more season beyond the upcoming seventh. Showrunner Alex Gansa has said that would be “done” after Season 8.
Levine is aware of Gansa’s comments. Yet, “it doesn’t mean the end,” he said. “We have a long time until we get there, we’ll see how he feels, how the actors feel, how we feel.”
How does the network feel about the show? “I love the show, I love how Alex reinvents it each season so It’s possible there is life in it, and it’s possible it’s the right time to end it,” he said.