Spoiler alert for all you non-cable people: Nicholas Brody is dead. The star of Homeland was appropriately killed off in the season 3 finale. Fittingly the episode was named "The Star." How will Homeland reinvent itself in the wake of this seismic change? After all, a fourth season has been green-lit and a fifth is likely as well since it's Showtime Network's biggest hit.

"There's no question this show is undergoing a major reinvention or reboot for season four," series creator Alex Gansa said in an interview with Entertainment Weekly and reblogged by Kpopstarz.

However, is Brody really dead? After all, Brody is to Homeland what Derek Jeter is to the Yankees. One without the other is sacrilege, right? 

"I would say highly doubtful. But you never know," Gansa said to EW.

Fans can breath easy knowing that Saul Berenson, played by Mandy Patinkin, is returning.

"Everybody should rest assured that Mandy Patinkin is coming back as a series regular. I can tell you that with 100 percent certainty," Gansa promised. "Although he's not at a desk at Langley anymore, the CIA does outsource a lot of jobs to private contractors. He's going to be in that circle. He's still in the intelligence-gathering profession and the CIA could use somebody of his immense skills and knowledge for various intelligence work."

Can Gansa really promise that his co-star is returning? After all Patinkin has left two hit shows, Chicago Hope (1994) and Criminal Minds (2005) high-and-dry before. Patinkin quit Fire after its second season, despite an Emmy win, and just didn't show up for a table read for a new season of Minds. He later said that he wasn't aware of the show's level of violence. 

"The biggest public mistake I ever made was that I chose to do 'Criminal Minds' in the first place," Patinkin told New York Magazine in September 2012. "I thought it was something very different. I never thought they were going to kill and rape all these women every night, every day, week after week, year after year. It was very destructive to my soul and my personality."

Here's hoping to the return of Patinkin, lest he not change his mind. In other Homeland news, no other details about the plot are circulating. The season hasn't even been written yet. For more information on Homeland season four click here.

Are you a rabid Homeland fan? Let us know what you think about Brody's death, Saul's return, and the long layover between seasons in the comments section below.