"Homeland' Season 5 Premieres October 4, Followed by Return of 'The Affair'

Showtime has announced that the highly anticipated fifth season of the Emmy and Golden Globe-winning hit drama series Homeland will premiere on Sunday, October 4th at 9 p.m. ET/PT, followed by the second season premiere of the Golden Globe-winning drama The Affair at 10 p.m. ET/PT. The network also released the new season key art for Homeland's fifth season.

Homeland season five will pick up two years after Carrie Mathison's (Emmy, Screen Actors Guild and Golden Globe Award winner Claire Danes) ill-fated tenure as Islamabad station chief. Struggling to reconcile her guilt and disillusionment with years of working on the front lines in the "war on terror," Carrie finds herself in a self-imposed exile in Berlin, estranged from the CIA and working as the head of security for a German philanthropist. Homeland is currently in production in Berlin, and is the first American TV series to shoot entirely in Germany. Season five also stars Emmy nominee Rupert Friend, Oscar winner F. Murray Abraham, Sebastian Koch, Screen Actors Guild winner Miranda Otto, Alexander Fehling, Sarah Sokolovic, and Emmy and Tony winner Mandy Patinkin. Produced by Fox 21 Television Studios, Homeland was developed for American television by Alex Gansa and Howard Gordon, and is based on the original Israeli series "Prisoners of War" by Gideon Raff. Along with Gansa and Gordon, the executive producers for season five are Meredith Stiehm, Patrick Harbinson, Chip Johannessen, Alexander Cary, Lesli Linka Glatter, Gideon Raff, Avi Nir and Ran Telem.

72nd Annual Golden Globe Awards: Complete List of Nominees

Nominees for the 72nd Annual Golden Globe Awards were announced this morning from the Beverly Hilton Hotel in Beverly Hills, CA. Kate Beckinsale, two-time Golden Globe Award-nominee Peter Krause, Paula Patton, and Golden Globe-winner and five-time nominee Jeremy Piven joined Hollywood Foreign Press Association (HFPA) President Theo Kingma for the announcement. Nominations were announced in 25 categories:

TELEVISION

Best TV Comedy or Musical
Girls
Jane the Virgin
Orange Is the New Black
Silicon Valley
Transparent

Best TV Drama
The Affair
Downton Abbey
Game of Thrones
The Good Wife
House of Cards

Showtime Running 'Homeland' & 'The Affair' Marathons During Thanksgiving Weekend

The fourth season of Homeland premiered in October.

Over Thanksgiving weekend, Showtime will be airing full catch-up marathons of the current seasons of the Emmy and Golden Globe-winning series Homeland beginning on Saturday, November 29th at 3 p.m. ET/PT, and the critically-acclaimed new drama The Affair on Sunday, November 30th starting at 4 p.m. ET/PT. Viewers can also catch up on the current seasons via Showtime ON DEMAND and Showtime ANYTIME. New episodes of both hit series return on Sunday, December 7th starting at 9 p.m. ET/PT. The marathon event comes after the recently announced pick-ups of The Affair for a second season and of Homeland for a fifth season.

Showtime Sets October Series Premiere Date for 'The Affair' & Debuts First Look

Showtime has announced the premiere date for the network's provocative new drama series The Affair, which will make its series premiere on Sunday, October 19th at 10 p.m. ET/PT. Currently in production in Montauk, NY, on ten episodes, The Affair stars Golden Globe nominees Dominic West (The Wire) and Ruth Wilson (Luther), as well as Emmy nominee Maura Tierney (ER) and SAG Award nominee Joshua Jackson (Fringe).

The Affair explores the emotional and psychological effects of an extramarital affair. The provocative drama will be told separately from the male and female perspectives - using the distinct memory biases to both misdirect and intrigue. Wilson plays Alison, a young woman waiting tables at a popular Hamptons diner, trying to piece her life back together in the wake of a tragedy. Her husband Cole (Jackson), struggles to keep it all together, both with his wife and the financially-strained ranch that has been in his family for generations. Their emotionally-charged marriage becomes even more complicated when Alison begins an affair with Noah (West), a New York City public school teacher and aspiring novelist who is spending the summer at his in-laws' estate out on the island. Tierney plays Helen, Noah's college sweetheart, best friend, mother of his children, lover and wife of 17 years.

As an added bonus, check out an early look at footage from the seductive one-hour drama below: