Tradecraft: Alex Rider Bad Guy Lands Male Lead In Homeland

Damian Lewis, who played Yassen Gregorovich, the assassin who slays Alex Rider's uncle, Ian Rider (Ewan McGregor) in the movie Operation: Stormbreaker (review here), has been cast as the male lead in Showtime's upcoming spy series from the executive producers of 24, Homeland.  Deadline reports that 24's Howard Gordon and Alex Gansa have cast Lewis (probably better known to the world at large for Band of Brothers) as Scott Brody, a Marine sergeant who returns home to his wife (Laura Fraser) and two children amidst much fanfare after spending eight years as a prisoner of war and comes under suspicion from CIA officer Carrie Anderson (previously announced Claire Danes), who believes he might be planning an attack on America, Manchurian Candidate-style. Besides Danes, Mandy Patinkin has already been cast as "politically savvy CIA CIA Division Chief emeritus Saul Berenson," and the trade blog reports that British actor David Harewood (Robin Hood, The Fixer) will join him as David Estes, "the youngest Deputy Director of Intelligence in CIA history, decisive, political, professional, but ultimately self-serving who is frequently exasperated by Carrie's obsessive determination to follow up any lead, no matter how small or politically inconvenient." Yep, that definitely sounds like it's from the former 24 producers!  (Even if it's actually based on an Israeli series.) Lewis was cast in Operation: Stormbreaker when it was envisioned as the first in a film franchise reflecting the mega-popularity of Anthony Horowitz's teen spy novels. Had the first film not bombed (thanks to a non-release from The Weinstein Company in America), Lewis would have played a much larger role in subsequent installments. He and star Alex Pettyfer (who played Rider) seem to have landed on their feet, however, with Deadline recently touting Pettyfer as potentially the next Robert Pattinson, thanks to his forthcoming roles in teen-friendly movies like Beastly and I Am Number 4.