Does Nicholas Brody ever get caught in Homeland?

Nicholas Brody’s character was one of the most intriguing parts of the show, despite his arc being a common trope of the political/terrorism thriller genre. A huge part of the credit goes to Damien Lewis, who more recently portrayed the legendary Bobby Axelrod in Showtime’s Billions.

In Homeland, Nicholas Brody is a US marine captured by Al-Qaeda and kept as a prisoner for about eight years. The show begins when a raid on an Aghanistan Terrorist compound results in the rescue of Brody.

At the same time, the CIA gets information that Al-Qaeda has turned a prisoner to their side. This essentially means that there is a double agent amongst them, and Brody being rescued around the same time is understandably suspicious.

Later in the show, it is revealed that he indeed was a double agent. So, does Brody ever get caught in Homeland?

Brody initially gets caught by Carrie, as she uses his family to stop him from carrying out the bombing in Season 1. However, after having switched sides multiple times between the CIA and Al-Qaeda, he gets killed in Season 3 while undertaking a mission for the US.

The story of Nicholas Brody and his various missions is quite warped and twisted. As a double agent, we see him flip multiple times for multiple people, and you never really know whose side he is on.

Across the three seasons, we see Brody go on different missions. The dynamics between him, his family, Carrie Mathison, and even the Al-Qaeda change constantly. As a result, he’s responsible for killing American agents but also bringing down terrorists.

While the story is far too long to cover in this post, let me quickly skip to Season 3. Nicholas Brody is now in love with Carrie, who had first interrogated him when he returned to the US. As suspected initially, he had indeed been turned by Al-Qaeda but later was turned back by Carrie and his family.

However, considering that he has harmed the United States in devastating ways in the past, he’s given a final chance to redeem himself. His job is to go to Iran, seek political asylum by denouncing the US, and kill the head of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, General Danesh Akbari.

The reason behind this was simple. CIA asset Majid Javadi worked under Akbari, and the United States wanted him to ascend to power. This way, the US could have one of its trusted people in an authoritative position and could leverage this bond for its own good.

After undergoing rigorous interrogations and tests for the Iranian General to confirm if he’s telling the truth, Brody finally wins his trust. When he gets the chance, he even kills Akbari, but this is where the problem begins.

Turns out, the CIA had already made a deal with Majid Javadi that he would ascend to power, but for this to happen, he had to capture Brody. So, Brody was never going to be able to redeem himself, and the only person who knew this was Saul Berenson, Carrie’s boss.

Brody is then captured and deemed an enemy of the state. Following this decision, he is hanged in the Public Square, and that brings the tragic story of Nicholas Brody to an end.

About Homeland

Homeland is an American political-spy thriller created by Howard Gordon and Alex Gansa based on an older Israeli series, named Prisoners of War. It was produced by Fox 21 Television Studios and first aired in 2011. Homeland ended in 2020 with its eighth and final season.

The show follows the story of an insightful CIA operations officer, Carrie Mathison, who is reassigned to CIA’s Counterterrorism Center in Langley, Virginia after running an unauthorized operation in Iraq.