'Homeland' Producers Spent 5 Days Editing The Most Shocking Part Of Season 4 Premiere
The season 4 premiere of "Homeland" aired on Showtime Sunday night in back-to-back episodes.
During the series' second hour, we're introduced to Carrie's baby, Frannie, and from their first time on screen together, it's clear Carrie is uncomfortable around the child and has little interest in being a mother.
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She drives Frannie over to her father's house, the now deceased Brody, telling her how she met her dad and how much she loved him.
ShowtimeCarrie shows daughter Frannie her father's house where they met.
"He would have been a terrible father," she says.
"He was happy to hear that you were on the way though," she adds. "He was. It was the last thing he was happy about. And I, I tried ... to hold onto that and feel it too ... happy you're here. But, with his being gone, I can't remember why I had you. I loved him so much."
Showtime
Soon after, Carrie decides to give her baby a bath and for a moment she considers drowning her child before picking her up out of the bathtub. It's a difficult moment to watch.
As difficult as the scene is to watch, it wasn't an easy one to film either.
In an interview with The Hollywood Reporter, showrunner Alex Gansa explains the bathtub scene took days in total to edit.
"This is not an exaggeration, we spent a full five days editing that little piece of film," said Gansa. "We wanted to leave it open. Did she put the baby under water or did she not? It's left in the mind of the audience to determine what exactly happened."
Gansa explained this season we'll see Carrie deal with Brody's unexpected death. But to come to terms with it, she'll need to accept the child she is so obviously withdrawn from.
"This season, in Homeland, the story is Carrie Mathison contemplating what happened last year. The hanging of Brody is something she hasn't squarely faced, and that child is a physical representation of that tragedy," Gansa told The Hollywood Reporter. "As a result, that kid is something Carrie doesn't want to deal with. It all came down to that scene in the bathtub, where, for a moment, she considered that her life would be easier if this little creature didn't exist anymore."
"Homeland" airs on Showtime Sunday nights at 9 p.m.