Nicholas Brody, played by actor Damian Lewis, is a fictional character on the American television series Homeland on Showtime, created by Alex Gansa and Howard Gordon.

Brody is a United States Marine Corps Gunnery Sergeant who is held as a prisoner of war by al-Qaeda terrorists for eight years.

However, a CIA officer, Carrie Mathison, suspects that Brody was turned by al-Qaeda, and tries to stop him from potentially committing a terrorist act.

Born in the Mojave Desert, when his father was stationed at the MCAGCC, Gunnery Sergeant Nicholas Brody was a United States Marine Corps Force Reconnaissance Scout Sniper deployed during the Iraq War.

On May 19, 2003, both Brody and a fellow Scout Sniper, Thomas Walker (Chris Chalk), were captured near the Syrian border by forces loyal to Saddam Hussein.

The two men were sold to al-Qaeda commander Abu Nazir (Navid Negahban) and held captive in Damascus for the next eight years.

Brody helped Nazir bury Issa and joined him in reciting an Islamic prayer over the child's grave.

Shortly thereafter, Brody watched an interview with Vice President William Walden (Jamey Sheridan), who falsely claimed that no children were killed in the drone strike.

He is flown back to the US, where he is reunited with his wife, Jessica (Morena Baccarin), and his children, Dana (Morgan Saylor) and Chris (Jackson Pace).

During his debriefing, Brody finds himself interrogated by CIA officer Carrie Mathison (Claire Danes), who had been told by an informant that an American POW had been turned by al-Qaeda.

[1] As he settles back into civilian life, Brody struggles with posttraumatic stress disorder and has nightmares about his captivity in Damascus, all of which takes a toll on his family.

The situation is worsened when he finds out that Jessica and Mike Faber (Diego Klattenhoff), his best friend and fellow Marine, had been in a relationship while he was in captivity.

[3] Carrie watches Brody's TV appearances and notices that he taps his fingers in a repeated pattern, believing that he is giving a coded message.

This observation convinces her CIA mentor, Saul Berenson (Mandy Patinkin), to help her obtain a FISA warrant for Brody's home.

Carrie continues surveilling Brody after the warrant expires and breaches CIA protocol by approaching him at a support group for veterans.

[8] As Walker opens fire on the summit, Brody and his targets are sent to a safe room inside the State Department.

He tells Nazir via phone that he plans to run for a seat in Congress, which will allow him to influence the U.S. military as a double agent.

[11] Meanwhile, Brody meets Roya Hammad (Zuleikha Robinson), a journalist who gives an assignment from Nazir instructing him to retrieve a list of potential attack targets from a safe in Estes' office.

Roya tells him to help an al-Qaeda bomb maker get to a safe house, but Brody ends up killing the man when he tries to escape.

[12] When Dana admits at school that her father is a Muslim, an angered Jessica confronts Brody and throws his Quran to the floor.

[13] During the ensuing interrogation, new team leader Peter Quinn (Rupert Friend) stabs Brody in the hand.

[14] Dana is involved in a fatal hit and run committed by Walden's son Finn (Timothée Chalamet), her new boyfriend.

Just then, however, a bomb hidden in Brody's car detonates and kills 219 of the funeral's attendees, including Walden's family and many CIA agents and government officials.

Anxious to keep moving, Brody convinces El Niño's daughter, Esme (Martina García), to take him outside.

Berenson and Carrie offer Brody a chance to redeem himself by seeking political asylum in Iran and assassinating the head of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, General Danesh Akbari (Houshang Touzie), so that CIA asset Majid Javadi (Shaun Toub) can take his place.

Over the next few days, Brody gives a series of interviews on Iranian television denouncing the United States, leaving Saul no choice but to order his death.

[26] For his portrayal of Nicholas Brody in the premiere season of Homeland, Damian Lewis received the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Drama Series.