WarSclerotic

The Emmy-nominated “Homeland” will continue its ripped-from-the headlines feel, opening Season 2 against the fictional backdrop of an Israeli bombing of Iranian nuclear facilities, producers revealed on Monday.

The first few episodes are set in Beirut but were filmed in Israel.

“We do everything we can to make this thing feel believable. We also try the best we can to ask the questions rather than answer them,” executive producer Alex Gansa said on Monday. “It does explore whether our fears are justified and warranted.”

“Homeland” has earned nine Emmy Award nominations, including acting nods for Damian Lewis, who plays a freed prisoner of war who has gone rogue, and Claire Danes, the CIA operations officer who suspects Lewis’ character is a terrorist. Danes won a Golden Globe in January for her role in a first season that was packed with plot twists.

But despite the real-life geo-political tensions between the United States and the Middle East, the show will focus more on personal relationships in its second season, the producers said.

The drama — one of U.S. President Barack Obama’s television favorites — played out its first award-winning season in a post-9/11 world of suspicion, war-damaged soldiers and extremist tensions.

Homeland was adapted from the Israeli drama “Hatufim” (“Prisoners of War”). Its first season hit an all-time high for a new drama series on Showtime, the U.S. cable channel which has broadcasting rights for the show. The network says the second season of “Homeland” will premiere Sept. 30.

“Homeland” is one of several American TV shows inspired by Israeli shows in recent years. Small parts of the first season were also shot in Israel.

The second season storyline resumes six months after Danes’ character, Carrie Mathison, seeks electroshock therapy for her mental disorder after being convinced that her suspicions about the enigmatic POW were ill-founded.

“She has been very humbled and she is struggling with a crisis of confidence. She gets her mojo back but it takes a little time,” Danes said on Monday.

As for Lewis, his character, Nicholas Brody, has been elected to Congress as a war hero and appears on course for a vice presidential run.

“He will live in a state of paranoia and anxiety,” said Lewis of his character. “Last time he was damaged, and he won some sympathy from the audience. He’s more numbingly juggling balls this season.”