Morena Baccarin and Morgan Saylor not returning in Homeland Season 4

Homeland will air its Season 3 finale on Sunday and recently came off its highest-rated episode of the season. But two of the series' regular characters will not return when the show comes back for Season 4.

TVLine first reported that Morena Baccarin, who plays Jessica Brody, and Morgan Saylor, who plays Dana Brody aka Dana Lazzaro, would not return as series regulars for Season 4. The site reports through sources that "the door is open" for both Baccarin and Saylor to return as guest stars, much like Diego Klattehnoff (Mike) did in Season 3.

The news is hardly a surprise considering that Baccarin and Saylor appeared far less often in Season 3 than in the first two seasons. Plot-wise, there's just not as many reasons for the Brody family to really be involved in the story at this point, particularly if Nicholas Brody does not survive the season finale.

And on that subject, James Hibberd of EW offers the following detailed description of the finale:

"Brody's flying riiiiiight into the danger zone in Iran. Carrie's secretly preggers, off her meds and sneaky-smoking. Saul's juggling a cheating wife, a scheming senator gunning for his job and Brody's mission. And Dana is cleaning motel rooms - really? Wouldn't Dana be the grumpiest maid ever? She doesn't even clean her own room. Yes, it's been a perplexing season, and Homeland is going into its final hour. The big question: Brody has survived longer than viewers (and even the show's writers) expected. Will this season send him to the great intelligence briefing in the sky? Or will Carrie manage to Argo him out of Iran and back to her sex cabin? Even if Brody does perish, we vote for Showtime to bring him back in Season 4 as Carrie's clozapine-induced Jedi-like spectral mentor."