'Homeland' Season 5 release date, spoilers: 12 episodes of Season 5 to start filming in Germany

Award-winning espionage thriller "Homeland" is gearing up for its fifth season, and fans of the show are in for a change in environment.

Showtime, the network that airs "Homeland," announced this week that its flagship television series' upcoming season will be shot in Germany.

The Hollywood Reporter, quoting showrunner Alex Gansa, said the 12 episodes of "Homeland" Season 5 will be shot mostly at the Studio Babelsberg in Berlin.

Gansa also revealed that the production for the new season will start this June.

Entertainment Weekly meanwhile reported that "Homeland" will be the first American show to shoot an entire season in Germany.

The show's new location will be a departure from the past four seasons, which were all set in the Middle East, particularly Afghanistan, Iraq and Pakistan.

The change in location also happened after "Homeland" drew some criticism last season for its Muslim extremist storyline.

Showtime president David Nevins already earlier told reporters that the popular show will deviate from the Muslim world in its next season. He also emphasized that "Homeland" is about "U.S. foreign policy, U.S. intelligence in the 21st century."

As for the plot of the next season, Showtime announced that it will pick up two years after the events in the fourth season finale.

Agent Carrie Mathison, played by award-winning actress Claire Danes, will go on self-exile in Berlin to work at a private security firm, while "struggling to reconcile her guilt and disillusionment with years of working on the front lines" in the war against terror.

Homeland Season 5 will return with 12 episodes, with a premiere not precisely set yet, but with a tentative date scheduled for fall 2015, likely in September or October 2015.