‘Homecoming’ Season 2 First Trailer: Janelle Monáe Leads a New Mystery
Anthology series are the name of the game with scripted television at the moment. It’s far easier to start fresh and retain the spirit of a series than continue a story that might have already run its course. Such is the case with Amazon Prime Video’s series “Homecoming.” The show, an adaptation of the podcast of the same name, saw Julia Roberts engage in a Hitchcockian tale of paranoia and government corruption during its first season.
Now, the first teaser for Season 2 shows us the sense of unease remains even if we aren’t clear on what the story is, exactly. The 30-second teaser introduces us to our new leading lady, played by Janelle Monáe, as she wakes up in a canoe in the center of a lake. From there the trailer gives us nothing more than snatches of different characters, two of whom were in “Homecoming” Season 1: Stephan James and Hong Chau. Chris Cooper pops up in the trailer as well, playing a new character to the mysterious landscape.
Right around the end of the first season it was revealed that Season 1 director Sam Esmail (of “Mr. Robot” fame) would not helm Season 2. Director Kyle Patrick Alvarez of “The Stanford Prison Experiment” will take on directing duties. This change also marks a similar transformation in direction for the story; whereas the first season followed the plot of the Gimlet Media podcast, co-creators Eli Horowitz and Micah Bloomberg will expand this season beyond the parameters of the podcast.
“This season is much more expansive in its locations and its energies. It’s much more aiming outside that narrative world and not as contained within the facility,” Horowitz said during last year’s TCA panel on the series.
The “Homecoming” podcast ran for two season in 2016-2017, starring the voices of Catherine Keener and Oscar Isaac as a government counselor and the mentally disturbed soldier she’s working with. Julia Roberts took on the Keener role in the television adaptation. The first season of the show was nominated for three Golden Globes, including acting nods for Roberts and James, as well as Best Television Series – Drama.
“Homecoming” Season 2 debuts on Amazon Prime May 22.
