Fans of espionage dramas will not want to miss out on one of the best in the genre arriving on streaming on Netflix U.S. for the first time ever. Making a surprise appearance in the global Netflix library, all eight seasons of Homeland have unexpectedly been added to the streaming platform after they snapped up the rights for worldwide distribution until the middle of 2027. Homeland originally aired on Showtime between 2011 and 2020, but considering its rights are owned by 20th Television, and therefore Disney, its appearance on Netflix was not something anyone expected to see. However, the show’s association with Netflix is perhaps not as much a surprise when considering the series was a Netflix exclusive in the U.K. for the majority of its original run. All seasons were purged from the streamer in February 2024. For those who have not previously indulged in the series, it stars Claire Danes, Damian Lewis, Mandy Patinkin, Morena Baccarin, Rupert Friend, and F. Murray Abraham among others, and the synopsis of the show runs like this:
“When Marine Sgt. Nicholas Brody (Lewis) returns home following eight years in captivity, CIA agent Carrie Mathison (Danes) thinks he has turned and is connected to a terror plot to be carried out on American soil, so she engages him in a dangerous game of cat and mouse that puts America’s national security at risk. Later on, Carrie gets a promotion and returns to the front lines overseas. She is assigned to one of the CIA’s most volatile and dangerous stations in the Middle East, where she is in the heart of battle in the war on terror. Years later, after being disillusioned and placing herself in a self-imposed exile in Berlin, Carrie becomes estranged from the CIA, eventually returning stateside where she works for a foundation providing aid to Muslims living in America.”

‘Homeland’ Had a Perfect Debut Season

Kata Vermes / ©Showtime / courtesy Everett Collection

Homeland is one of those rare series that manage to unite critics and audiences, with both Rotten Tomatoes scores sitting at 85%. The first season scored a perfect 100% on the Tomatometer, but the subsequent seasons failed to maintain quite the same level of praise, with the latter half of the series falling to around 80%. Among the reviews for its first season, some called it “the greatest thing on TV right now,” and others claimed it “lived up to the hype.” Filled with tense cliffhangers and storylines that were “as complicated as they are exciting,” it seemed that the series could do no wrong, and its second season’s 93% was another ringing endorsement of that. However, by the latter seasons, opinions shifted a little, with some declaring that the chemistry had “gone,” and others just believed the show had “become awful.” The series still maintained a strong viewership through to its eventual conclusion, and now those fans who enjoyed the series can relive the entire thrilling story on Netflix, and a whole new audience can discover it for the first time.

Release Date

2011 – 2020-00-00

Network

Showtime

Showrunner

Alex Gansa

Directors

Lesli Linka Glatter, Michael Cuesta, Daniel Attias, Alex Graves, Keith Gordon, Clark Johnson, Seith Mann, Tucker Gates, Michael Offer, Guy Ferland, Michael Klick, Carl Franklin, Charlotte Sieling, Jeffrey Nachmanoff, Brad Turner, Daniel Minahan, David Nutter, David Semel, Jeffrey Reiner, Jeremy Podeswa, John Dahl, John David Coles, Lodge Kerrigan

Writers

Patrick Harbinson, Debora Cahn, Ron Nyswaner, Anya Leta