Sorry folks, but the whole “Julia Roberts does a TV show” thing is officially over. After earning pretty stellar reviews for her performance in Sam Esmail’s “Homecoming,” the Academy Award-winning actress has hung up her TV shoes for now and won’t be returning for Season 2 of Amazon’s thriller.
According to THR, Season 2 of “Homecoming” will be without its original star moving forward. This signals a pretty clear deviation from the source material as the series moves into its next season. The podcast, in which the series is based on, spent its second season focusing on the Heidi character, played by Roberts in the show, yet again. However, with the actress out of the picture, it’s clear that producers are looking to move away from the podcast’s storylines even more and find a new direction.
READ MORE: The Best TV Shows Of 2018
The report says its still unclear whether or not the remaining cast of “Homecoming” will stay or leave. This includes Stephan James, Bobby Cannavale, Shea Whigham, Alex Karpovsky and Sissy Spacek, who all appeared in major roles on the series’ first season. Perhaps, Esmail and the rest of the folks behind the scenes are looking to make “Homecoming” a bit of an anthology series, focusing on different stories for each season? We’ll find out.
While we’re not sure exactly how big the viewership for “Homecoming” is on Amazon Prime Video, we can venture to say it’s a fairly big hit, especially considering the accolades the series has already earned. “Homecoming” was nominated for three Golden Globes, including Best Series, as well as Best Actor and Best Actress for James and Roberts, respectively. And moving forward, the series is almost a shoo-in for some Emmy consideration.
Even though Roberts is moving away from being an actor on the series, THR is reporting that she’ll remain an executive producer on “Homecoming.” Granted, the EP credit has varying degrees of meaning, so it’s unclear if Roberts will actually have much say in the direction of the series.
Either way, hopefully, Season 2 of “Homecoming” doesn’t lose its stride without Roberts. A release date for the second season has yet to be announced.