Homeland Season 4 Release Date, Plot Spoilers: Showtime Premiere Will See More Action, Dark Conspiracies

"Homeland," the highly-rated political TV thriller series, is returning for its fourth season on Showtime on Oct. 5 with 12 new episodes that promise to keep the fans at the edge of their seat. The Season 4 premiere will air back-to-back episodes.

"Homeland" is now the highest-rated show on Showtime with its Season 3 averaging more than seven million viewers per week -- an all-time high for the network.

Executive Producer Alex Gansa disclosed that "Homeland" 4 will see more action, dark conspiracies, and thrilling intrigues.

The main characters of the show will be returning for Season 4. They include Carrie Mathison (played by Claire Daines), Andrew Lockhart (Tracy Letts), Peter Quinn (Rupert Friend), Saul Berenson (Mandy Patinkin), Virgil (David Marciano), and Sandy Backman (Corey Stoll).

Nicholas Brody (played by Damian Lewis), Carrie's partner and love interest, is no longer a part of the show after Iranian officials hung him publicly.

Most of the scenes are set in Kabul, Afghanistan, and Islamabad, Pakistan.

In the latest trailer for "Homeland" season 4, Carrie is shown as the newly appointed C.I.A. Station Chief in Afghanistan tasked with a mission to find out who ordered a U.S. missile strike that missed its target and killed a group of civilians instead.

In a Youtube interview, the 35-year-old Daines describes her character Carrie as "alarmingly-high functioning" and "all work, all the time."

"It gets ugly," the "Stardust" actress said.

The Season 3 finale of "Homeland" featured the shocking death of Brody who was publicly hanged in Iran. Carrie was pregnant with Brody's child at the time.

In a post-show interview with EW.com, showrunner Alex Gansa addressed fans who were sickened with Brody's death and who threatened not to watch the next season of the show.

"You know, I would say this: We're sad too," Gansa said.

"We mourn not only the character's passing, but also a phenomenal actor, Damian Lewis, not being on our stages. But the show is going to move on, and it will move on with some of its fans, if not all of its fans," he added.

"Some people want it to be a spy show, some want it to be a love show, some people want it to be God knows what. We're not going to satisfy everybody."