Rejoice, Internet: Janelle Monae Is The Star Of ‘Homecoming’ Season Two
It's Monae's first major television role.
When a brilliant, incisive show like Homecoming sneaks under the radar, it really does feel like we’ve got too much TV.
After all, how else but viewer fatigue to explain the slightly underwhelming reaction that the first season recieved? On paper, the show should have been a four quadrant hit.
It’s created by the man behind Mr. Robot, Sam Esmail. It stars Julia Roberts in her first major television role, Bobby Cannavale of Boardwalk Empire fame, and Shea Whigham, the scene-stealer from True Detective. It’s based on a viral true crime podcast that examines the lingering effect of trauma on those returning from armed conflict. And it’s as brutal, intelligent, and twisty as modern television comes.
Well, hopefully the show’s fortunes are about to change thanks to a nifty piece of casting news. Yep, Janelle Monae is taking over the reins of Homecoming season two, in a move that might just pack the punch required to break this thing properly into the mainstream.
According to a press release, Monae will play a woman who washes ashore in a rowboat with no knowledge of who she is or where she came from. As fans of the original podcast know, that means Esmail and his crew are taking things into new, unchartered territory — there’s no such character in the source material.
But those worried that the second season will represent too much of a break from tradition shouldn’t worry: according to Deadline, Cannavale and Whigham are pretty much confirmed to return.
And for the rest of you who have no idea what any of this means, take this opportunity to right your wrongs and watch the whole of the first season in one long go. It’s streaming in full on Amazon Prime Video, so you have literally no excuse.
Homecoming season two will drop on Amazon Prime some time in 2020.