Comic-Con 2011: 'Dexter' and 'Homeland' Get Premiere Dates and New Trailers (Video)

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Michael C. Hall on "Dexter."

Showtime had a few tricks up its sleeve at its panel sessions during San Diego Comic-Con. It announced that the sixth season of Dexter and the series premiere of Homeland will air back to back on Sunday, October 2 at 9 p.m.

The Dexter panel included EP and star Michael C. Hall, his co-stars C.S. Lee, David Zayas, guest star Colin Hanks and a surprise late appearance by next season’s guest star, Mos. The show’s executive producers Sara Colleton and Scott Buck also appeared with the cast.

We were pretty disappointed that Homeland’s leads, Claire Danes and Damian Lewis weren’t on hand for the panel. EP Howard Gordon and newly cast Morena Baccarin (V, Firefly) did attend. Baccarin plays Scott Brody’s (Lewis) wife, Jessica.

The series follows Carrie Mathison (Danes), a CIA officer, who becomes convinced that the intelligence that led to the rescue of Sgt. Nick Brody, a U.S. soldier who had been missing for nine years, was set up and may be connected to an al-Qaeda plot to be carried out on American soil.

“You're not only dealing with a woman who has dealt with the loss of her husband, but after nine years she then gets him back and he's totally different,” Baccarin says of her role. “There's so many rich moments in that.”

The network also surprised the panel's audience with two new sneak peeks of the series. Watch them below.