Sunday ratings have stayed put relatively speaking since the start of the fall, but one thing did change: the public’s response of Homeland. While the domestic terrorism drama from Howard Gordon did manage to debut its second season to a series record 1.73 million viewers, the critically-acclaimed drama is running a course rarely chartered among serialized television show’s in that it managed to grow from there mid-season. October 28th’s audience beat last week’s high of 1.75 million with a whopping 2.07 million tuning in to find out if Brody (Damian Lewis) confesses to Claire Danes’ Carrie Mathison.
It was a fairly major revelation in terms of plot points, but it is far from the biggest concerning the show on and off the screen. Today, we were informed for the first time, that Ben Affleck was indeed once attached to direct the pilot for Homeland. What happened?
Well, he and his wife Jennifer Garner alternate when they each go away on work, and the Argo director had to stay home at the time production was first ramping up. Do not stop for a second though and assume that this was a solid pass up that resulted in a stronger show. According to Libby Goldstein who worked on casting for the Showtime drama, Affleck’s name was responsible for luring in the stellar ensemble that includes Emmy winners Claire Danes and Damian Lewis.
Since this revelation was occurred an event in which Affleck later received an award, the A-list helmer did have some words to say in regards to the missed opportunity: “I was sure nothing would happen with the show. Now I hate the f—-g show. I’ve never seen it. I’m going to attach myself to 14 pilots this year.”