‘Homeland’ series to end after eighth season

Award-winning US television drama “Homeland” will air its eighth and final season next year.

The announcement, made on Twitter on Monday, brings to a close the adventures of Carrie Mathison, a bipolar, former CIA agent played by Claire Danes, and her mentor Saul Berenson played by Mandy Patinkin.

Showtime Networks CEO David Nevins confirmed the long-speculated news at the Television Critics Association’s summer press tour. “I do not want to hear the word ‘cancellation,'” Nevins clarified. “[Co-creator and showrunner] Alex Gansa will bring the show to its proper conclusion.”

Nevins had been previously shy to call it quits on the drama, even though Gansa has been implying season eight would be the end since the Emmy-winning drama scored a three-season renewal back in 2016.

“It’s definitely going to be my last year,” Gansa told The Hollywood Reporter earlier this year. “I can’t speak for Claire or Mandy, but it will be my final year and it will be designed to be the end of an eight-season story. If Showtime, Fox, Claire and Mandy want to take the show further, that’s their decision, and we would leave some room for that to happen — if there’s an appetite.”

Danes said she would be getting off of the Homeland train a few months later. The eighth and final season of Homeland is expect to air on Showtime in the first quarter of 2019.

Based on the Israeli series “Prisoners Of War,” it debuted to critical acclaim in 2011, quickly becoming a game-changer for premium cable channel Showtime.

Claire Danes has played Mathison since its critically-acclaimed debut which starred Damien Lewis as Nicholas Brody. Following the departure of Lewis, the show received a huge shake-up presenting a new story in a brand new location each season, including Islamabad and Berlin.

For its past few runs, Homeland has been based on US soil in the midst of the election of President Elizabeth Keane (Elizabeth Marvel). Homeland has also starred Morena Baccarin, Rupert Friend, Tracy Letts and Miranda Otto.

The show counted former president Barack Obama among its devotees, while racking up eight Emmy awards and five Golden Globes.

But it was also decried by critics for its portrayal of Muslims and was once called the “most Islamaphobic show” on television.

In 2015, three graffiti artists hired to give its sets more realism instead caused embarrassment by using their artwork to accuse the show of racism.