***********This post contains mild SPOILERS for the last two seasons of Homeland, and some very tame spoilers for the new season.

The very first trailer for the third season of Homeland has been released. Oddly enough, while I’m excited for the third season, I haven’t been waiting breathlessly for it like I was with the second season. The first season “cliffhanger” of Carrie about to undergo electro-shock therapy and just before she was shocked, she put the pieces together (“Issa!”) and the nurse didn’t hear her… that was an intense cliffhanger. Not so much with the second season, although there was so much more bloodshed and so much more drama. I guess part of the reason I haven’t been thinking about it so much is because I believe the conspiracy theories that Brody and Abu Nazir made a deal and Brody KNEW that his car was rigged when he drove into Langley, and that Brody was playing Carrie in their last moments together. If anything, I’m going to be watching Season 3 for Saul (OMG I LOVE SAUL) and Rupert Friend’s amazing, badass character Peter Quinn. Anyway, enough with the talking. Here’s the trailer:

The first part of the trailer is part of the end of season 2 – Carrie and Brody saying goodbye after she helped him flee America with falsified documentation. What do we learn from the rest of the trailer? Carrie still has significant mental health issues and it seems like she might be hospitalized again (and handcuffed at some point). It looks like Saul is being put in charge (or at least put in a higher position of power) at the CIA, although it also looks like Saul is going to be getting much of the blame from the Senate committee too. It looks like Peter Quinn is on the hunt for somebody… did Saul put him in charge of the hunt for Brody? Brody looks like he’s returned to the Middle East… maybe? He also looks like he’s in a jungle at some point. He also has a shaved head and lots of body damage, possibly from a CIA/Saul-ordered drone strike, perchance?

It also looks like my girl Sarita Choudhury has returned to Saul. Thank God. He needed her desperately. Disappointingly, it looks like we’re still going to have to spend some time with Brody’s family. I really hoped that part of the story would just fade away. But I guess we’re supposed to think that Dana is experimenting with Islam.

Oh, and co-creator Alex Gansa says that Brody isn’t in the first two episodes, but “it would be a betrayal to tell you when he does appear…His flight from America just made it impossible to incorporate in the first two episodes.” Interesting. Hopefully the lack of Brody will mean more Saul and Quinn.

Photos courtesy of Vogue, WENN.