Written by new-contact on Apr 7, 2014. Posted in On Location

Homeland switches filming locations from North Carolina to South Africa

Terrorism drama Homeland will switch filming locations from North Carolina to Cape Town in South Africa for its fourth season. The award-winning series has been based in Charlotte from the beginning but producers have said they always planned to shoot internationally for the fourth season.

“We’ve been so lucky to work with one of the best crews in the business for the last three seasons in Charlotte,” said Homeland showrunner and executive producer Alex Gansa.

“We knew going into season four that we would need to move the production overseas to tell the story of Carrie [Mathison, the show’s CIA agent protagonist] returning to the Middle East as chief of station. We are thrilled to have found a new home in Cape Town and look forward to getting season four production off the ground.”

South Africa offers a base 20% filming incentive and is increasingly popular as a filming location for international TV productions.

High-end pirate drama Black Sails is based at Cape Town Film Studios, while other shows such as rescue drama SAF3 (pronounced ‘Safe’) and sci-fi series Dominion are doubling Cape Town for US locations. Homeland may be doubling the city for Istanbul, in line with narrative developments at the end of the third season.

We are thrilled to have found a new home in Cape Town and look forward to getting season four production off the ground.

Alex Gansa, Showrunner/Executive Producer

Homeland doubled filming locations in North Carolina for Virginia and Washington, DC, partly because of North Carolina’s generous 25% filming tax credit. However, the incentive is set to expire at the end of 2014 and the tax credit is vocally opposed by state lawmakers who feel the money would be better spent elsewhere. The local production industry is in the midst of an intense lobbying campaign to champion the economic benefits and have the incentive extended.

Other high-profile TV productions filmed recently in North Carolina include Under the Dome and Sleepy Hollow.