KOOL TV BABE OF THE WEEK: 'HOMELAND's MORENA BACCARIN

All American gal! The lovely actress/model Morena Baccarin. Image: ULIKE.

After two great years clearly relishing every second playing the evil queen of the alien visitors-the psychopathic Anna- in the successful ABC re-imagining of the hit eighties sci-fi series V, the lovely Brazilian-born/American actress Morena Baccarin, with a string of cult hits under her belt including FIREFLY and STARGATE, comes back down to Earth in a more accessible and vulnerable role than we've been used to seeing her play for quite a while, and certainly one more grounded in reality and emotional complexity, in the acclaimed and haunting new thriller series HOMELAND (developed for American SHOWTIME television by 24's Howard Gordon and Alex Gansa, starting on Sunday night on the UK's CHANNEL 4 and HD). Here she plays Jessica Brody, an attractive and devoted suburban housewife/ mother finally coming to terms with her status as a widow to her heroic soldier husband Nicholas, long presumed dead in war-torn Iraq eight years earlier. But when its discovered that he's actually alive, and soon rescued by special forces, her life is quickly turned upside down by his return to the family fold and his integration back to life and society in general: a period in their new togetherness which proves both difficult and traumatic under such extraordinary circumstances, made even more complicated and strained by the fact that she's been having an affair with his best friend, and fellow military man, Mike Faber (Diego Klattenhoff) for several years.

As Jessica, the proud but emotionally daunted wife of war hero Nicholas Brody (Damian Lewis) in HOMELAND. Image: SHOWTIME.

As Anna, the truly cold hearted and determined leader of the alien visitors in V. Image: Jack Rowand/ABC TV.

HOMELAND trailers: Homeland - Trailer Showtime Series HD - YouTube and HOMELAND Promo/Trailer - Someone Is Lying - Sunday 10/9c On SHOWTIME - YouTube

It's not a showy part for Baccarin, in comparison to the heavyweight responsibilities that entail for the shows main leads, Claire Danes (as the bold and slightly off-kilter CIA agent Carrie Mathison) and Damian Leiws (as husband Nicholas), but the talented actress brings likability and believability to the nonetheless important role of Jessica, aware, but not truly wanting to face up to the fact, that somethings not quite right with her world-admired husband since his return to home soil, but summing it up as being part of his life as a tortured prisoner of war and the emotional stress he's been under ever since. With the shows evolving plots and sub-plots, where nothing is quite what it seems a lot of the time, or goes into unexplored and surprising avenues not expected by viewers, we look forward to seeing how things develop between the couple. Will she discover the truth behind her husband's conflicted personality? And is it likely that he actually is an undercover terrorist working against America for Al Qaeda? I'm not saying anything, you'll just have to find out for yourself. But I guarantee you'll be be thrilled and gripping your seat all the way through in finding out...

Damian Lewis and Claire Danes in HOMELAND. Image: SHOWTIME.