Here's How Ben Savage Came To Play a Young Mandy Patinkin on 'Homeland'

There was a familiar face on screen last week when the penultimate episode of Homeland aired – Ben Savage.

The -year-old actor, who is best known for his role as Cory Matthews on Boy Meets World, portrayed a young version of Mandy Patinkin‘s Saul Berenson – but it wasn’t the first time he played a young version of one of Mandy‘s characters.

Ben also portrayed a young Jason Gideon on CBS’s Criminal Minds, where Mandy starred for three seasons.

“[We] went through so many discussions about how we would portray the Young Saul,” co-creator/executive producer Alex Gansa shared with TVLine. “There was some talk of trying to make Mandy (who is 67 in real life) look like he was in his late 20s, but we did some tests and it just wasn’t believable.”

After trying out his real life sons, who are not actors, they turned to Ben.

Alex added that “when Ben came in to read, the resemblance is so strong it felt like the smart thing to do. He just bears such an uncanny resemblance to Mandy.”

Homeland‘s series finale airs tonight, April 26 at 9/8c on Showtime.