'Homeland' Season 5 Finds Allison Carr In Berlin

It's that time of year again: After a pretty darn stellar Season 4, finally (finally!) Homeland is returning for Season 5. The new season has a lot going for it — like last year's Islamabad-set story, it looks like the team is shaking things up again, both geography-wise, cast-wise, and even time-wise. Season 5 will jump ahead two years, be set almost exclusively in Berlin (which, according to the New York Times, gives the show a new Cold War-esque rhythm), and it will feature — count 'em — four new series regulars. Among said new characters? Australian actor Miranda Otto, who will play Allison Carr, aka Berlin's Chief of Station, as reported by Deadline.

Otto joins the cast along with Sarah Sokolovic, Sebastian Koch, and Alexander Fehling, and her character Allison will factor pretty heavily into the new season. She'll be working closely with fan favorite (and ultra-deft death-dodger) Saul Berenson, as they try to uncover the latest espionage plot mounting against them, in which one Carrie Mathison (now a civilian working in private security) is a prime suspect. Yep, after what Richard Lawson of Vanity Fair refers to as "an Edward Snowden-esque data leak," Carrie's relationship with a reporter linked to the leak leads her former CIA bosses to think she's the mastermind behind the disaster — so Saul and Allison quickly go on the defensive.

Oh, and as if that wasn't already enough of Homeland's signature brand of drama, the (largely positive) advance reviews of the first couple episodes also imply that Allison and Saul's relationship may even be of the romantic variety — so keep your seat belts firmly buckled for that possibility.

For her part, Otto (whom you may recognize as Eowyn from The Lord of the Rings trilogy), seems excited to be joining the popular Showtime drama and her intriguing character sounds like she'll make a nice addition to our team of old Homeland stalwarts. As she said to Sydney's Daily Telegraph,

It’s a great role. I got very lucky on this one ... She’s very much on the front foot and she’s ballsy, definitely. She is very in control and very, sure of what she’s doing.

Excited yet? There are a lot of reasons to look forward to the new season (after all, Season 4 effectively left us dangling off of several cliffs) and now we can add Berlin CIA Station Chief Allison Carr to the list.

Images: Stephan Rabold/Showtime (2)