Sep 11, 2026, 5:00 AM1 views

Homeland Meets Zero Dark Thirty In Joel Kinnaman’s New 8-Part Political Thriller

If you like military thrillers like Zero Dark Thirty, you'll love this show.

Published Sep 10, 2026, 7:30 PM EDT

Sean is a senior writer for ScreenRant and has been writing about new TV releases since December 2023. He has received multiple advance screenings of popular shows and ideated his own coverage read by hundreds of thousands of readers.

Sean is a self-published author of a Western novel. Sean has also written award-winning opinion pieces related to local politics while getting his Bachelor's degree in journalism.

The intense high-stakes military action of Zero Dark Thirty meets the smart spy work of Homeland in an upcoming political thriller from TNT starring Joel Kinnaman. Zero Dark Thirty and Homeland are two of the High Value Target: The Hunt For Saddam has the true story basis of Zero Dark Thirty combined with the in-depth look at the inner workings and dysfunctions of the CIA that made Homeland such a classic.

High Value Target Stars Joel Kinnaman As The CIA Agent Hunting Saddam Hussein

High Value Target: The Hunt for Saddam is based on the memoir "Debriefing the President" by John Nixon. Nixon, who will be portrayed by Kinnaman in the upcoming series, was a CIA agent in 2003 and one of the first people to interrogate former Iraqi President Saddam Hussein after he was captured by American forces in a mission dubbed Operation Red Dawn.

While the real-life Nixon wasn't actually present at Hussein's capture, the upcoming TNT series will seemingly take a few creative liberties to depict Operation Red Dawn and include Kinnaman's character. Nixon and the rest of the nation go on to understand the consequences as a result of the US invasion of Iraq."

High Value Target Feels Like Zero Dark Thirty Crossed With Homeland

Chris Pratt in fatigues pointing to his head in Zero Dark Thirty

Though it hasn't premiered yet, it already seems clear that High Value Target shares a lot of DNA with Zero Dark Thirty. Both are based on true U.S. military operations during the War on Terror, though Zero Dark Thirty takes place years later in Afghanistan. Both dramatize operations to apprehend high-value targets, namely Saddam Hussein and Osama bin Laden. Essentially, High Value Target is just the TV version of Zero Dark Thirty with slightly different subject matter.

The first two episodes of High Value Target: The Hunt for Saddam will debut Sunday, September 13 at 9pm ET/PT, followed by episode three on Monday, September 14 at 9pm ET/PT on TNT. New episodes will premiere on subsequent Sunday and Monday evenings at 9pm ET/PT, culminating with the finale on Sunday, October 4 on TNT.

While they are extremely similar, High Value Target also seemingly goes a bit further than Zero Dark Thirty. Whereas Zero Dark Thirty ends with Osama bin Laden's death, High Value Target will presumably start with the operation to capture Saddam Hussein and dive much further into the interrogation and aftermath following his capture. Kinnaman's John Nixon will have to try to extract information about WMDs that don't exist all while preparing to debrief the president.

That larger scope also makes High Value Target similar to Homeland. Though fictional, Homeland was intensely interested in the processes and thinking of CIA agents and higher-ups. Carrie frequently had to interrogate suspected terrorists, try to uncover sinister plots, and work with and against higher ranking members of the U.S. government to get things done. Based on Nixon's memoir, High Value Target: The Hunt for Saddam will also depict him doing much of the same, including navigating a dysfunctional CIA hierarchy.