The fourth season of 'Homeland' is ready to begin operations. The Showtime CIA thriller ended its third season back in December, and while details for the next one were kept under wraps, some plot info has been revealed. According to Entertainment Weekly, season number four will center on Carrie Mathison’s (Claire Danes) job located in the Middle East as chief of station. The summary is interesting enough considering nobody quite knew where Mathison & Co. could be headed following last season’s finale, but things are looking optimistic as a number of actors have been confirmed to return such as Mandy Patinkin, Rupert Friend, and Nazanin Boniadi.

Homeland
Homeland will be back for series fourth

Sadly, the series will be missing one actor: James Rebhorn, who played the role of Carrie’s father, passed away from melanoma this past March. How the series will handle his character remains to be seen, but what is known this week is the addition of three new actors and roles that will appear in the upcoming season. Suraj Sharma will join as the “heavily recurring” Aayan Ibrahim, who is a Pakistani medical student that crosses paths with Carrie. Corey Stoll will guest star as Sandy Bachman for an undisclosed amount of episodes, who is “the CIA chief of station in Pakistan who is a rising star within the agency.” Finally, Laila Robins comes on board as series regular Martha Boyd, a U.S. ambassador to Pakistan who is described as “professional and put together, with a ship-to-ship voice and the personality to match.”

So, who are these guys (and girl) anyway? Have they been good enough in their past roles for other projects to warrant such a big status with a role on 'Homeland'? Sharma has been touted as a rising star for his lead role in Life of Pi and can currently be found in this year’s Million Dollar Arm. Stoll is probably best known for his appearances in Netflix’s 'House of Cards,' something that landed him a Golden Globe nomination. Additionally, he’s also set to star on the upcoming FX drama, 'The Strain.' Robins has been around for a while, dabbling in theater, TV, and film, with credits including appearances on '30 Rock,' 'Sex and the City,' and 'Law & Order.'

Claire Danes
Claire Danes will be reprising her role as Carrie in the fourth 'Homeland' season

Whether you’ve heard of them or not, it’s safe to say that they aren’t a bunch of nobodies. They should excel in their roles just fine when season four of 'Homeland' begins shooting later this month in South Africa. As more roles are announced within the coming months, it just might put to rest all of the naysayers that think the show’s lost its touch until 'Homeland' can prove that itself when it airs later this fall.

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