Homeland fans wondering why Carrie (Claire Danes) was acting so friendly with Lockhart (Tracy Letts) in the season 3 finale now have their questions answered.

In the Homeland season 3 finale, there was a time jump of fourth months, at which point Carrie and Lockhart looked as though they had mended fences, despite their previous differences when it came to Brody (Damian Lewis). Homeland executive producer Alex Gansa revealed the reasoning behind Carrie's sudden change of behavior to TVLine this week.

"Carrie had to make a choice. Is she going to continue to do what she loves to do, which is be an intelligence officer, or is she going to hold her anger and feelings of betrayal against the man who is now sitting in the chair that is going to determine where her career goes," Gansa explained.

The executive producer said that part of the reason for the fourth-month time jump was for the shock value of Carrie suddenly being okay with things.

"That was, frankly, one of the things that we were trying to go with was, 'OMG, Carrie is OK with all of this. How is that possible?' Well, Carrie is a pragmatist. This is job a calling to her. And although [Brody's death] was incredibly painful, she - was able to move on from that and decide that her career was more important than holding a grudge."

Homeland Spoilers: Carrie & Quinn to Start Seeing Each Other? 

Homeland season 4 will shift to a predominant focus on the CIA, as it began to do in season 3. The Brody family has been downgraded to guest star status (aside from Jackson Pace's Chris, mysteriously) and Brody is now dead.

Homeland season 4 is expected to premiere in late 2014 on Showtime, though the network has not yet scheduled an air date.

Homeland Spoilers: Carrie Bringing Quinn, Fara, Virgil & More to Istanbul in Season 4? 

Tags: homeland Homeland Season 4 Spoilers