'Homecoming' Season 2 Will Not Feature Julia Roberts

If you were hoping to see Julia Roberts in Homecoming season 2, I have some bad news. While Roberts will remain an executive producer on the fantastic Amazon series from Mr. Robot creator Sam Esmail, she won't be returning to play her season 1 character Heidi Bergman. This is a bit disappointing, as Roberts turned in a wonderful performance in season 1.

THR is reporting that Julia Roberts isn't coming back for Homecoming season 2, and I'm sad about that. Per their story, "Roberts' initial deal for Homecoming — the star's first TV series regular role — was for a one-season commitment based purely on the Amazon drama's creative storyline." Homecoming was one of my favorite shows of 2018, and Roberts' performance was one of her best in years. While season 1 ended in a somewhat definitive way, it also left things a bit open-ended so that Roberts' character, Heidi Bergman, might be able to return in some capacity. But I guess that's not the case.

The series is inspired by the podcast of the same name, and creator Sam Esmail has already touched on how the show has strayed from its source material:

"We've deviated from very much of the podcast, so [season two of] the podcast doesn't really have anything to do with the way the show is going. We're working on a second season, but we have a very different trajectory for our show. I think when I signed on, I had only listened to the first six episodes of the podcast, which is the first season, and then from there we deviated completely. The show starts out fairly close to the podcast, and in the back half of the season we really start to see the major shifts and differences from the podcast."

In season 1, Roberts played a former caseworker at Homecoming, "a facility that helps soldiers transition back to civilian life." However, years later, she's working as a waitress at a seafood restaurant, and has almost no memory of her time at Homecoming. As she tries to piece together what happened to her, we watch – via flashbacks – as her past unfolds. It's a highly engrossing show with some fantastic direction and cinematography, and I'm surprised more people aren't talking about it as they look back on 2018. Were I to put together a list of my favorite shows of last year, I'm almost positive Homecoming would be at the top of the list.

The question now is: where is the show going from here? Per THR, the second season "will further explore the storyline that was teased in the season one finale post-credits scene that featured Colin Belfast (Bobby Cannavale) and his newly minted Geist Group superior Audrey Temple (Hong Chau) squaring off, with Audrey calming her nerves with a mysterious medicine after the encounter."