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“Homecoming” is the upcoming mind-bending psychological thriller starring Oscar winner Julia Roberts as Heidi Bergman, a caseworker at a secret government facility who helps soldiers transition back to civilian life. Walter Cruz (Stephan James) is one of these soldiers, eager to begin the next phase of his life.
But when Heidi is questioned about why she left the Homecoming facility, she begins to realize that there’s a whole other story behind the story she’s been telling herself.
Based on the popular podcast of the same name, “Homecoming” is created by Eli Horowitz and Micah Bloomberg and directed by Sam Esmail (creator of “Mr. Robot”). The cast also includes Bobby Cannavale, Jeremy Allen White, Alex Karpovsky, Dermot Mulroney, among others.
“Eli and Micah have written such a great sort of old-fashioned yarn set in this really modern conundrum of a morality play,” Roberts said during the Amazon panel at Television Critics Association Summer press tour (TCA) in Beverly Hills last month. “And to put that in Sam’s incredibly stylish, capable hands, seemed a very safe place to be,” she added when asked what attracted her to the project; her TV series-starring debut. Roberts also serves as executive producer through her RedOm production company.
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(Source: Frederick M. Brown/Getty Images North America
Gimlet Media’s breakout fictional podcast launched in November and the hot property has been pursued by several top film and TV producers and studios, Deadline reported. Amazon nabbed the half-hour drama from Universal Cable Productions for a two-season straight-to-series order.
“I listened to the podcast, that’s how I knew about it,” said Cannavale during the panel. “Podcasts were brand new to me. I’d only listened to S-Town and this was the second one I’d ever listened to at a suggestion from a friend. I’m now obsessed with podcasts. But, yeah, I was blown away by it,” he explained, “and I happened to be working with Sam when I was listening to it. And I didn’t know he was involved with it. I was shooting “Mr. Robot” and I said — I was that guy who came in and went, “Anybody hear this podcast, ‘Homecoming’?” And he was like, “Yeah, I’m gonna be doing it.” And I’m like, “Can I play Colin?!” And then I waited for a few months and I got the call.”
James added: “I also listened to the podcast beforehand. I thought it was brilliant. I know some of us probably didn’t watch it. I know some of the cast members didn’t watch it just to sort of be in the dark and form their own feeling or take on the characters. But I think for me it was really cool to just get in that world. That was my first podcast I’d listened to fully through. So for me to just have an idea of that world, and obviously take Walter and add layers and colors to him that would translate well onto television, so I definitely listened to it. It was great.”
Presented in a collage of telephone calls, therapy sessions and overheard conversations, the first season of the “Homecoming” podcast was named a finalist for the 2016 Peabody Awards, Deadline noted. Season 2 premiered July 19.
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At the center of this narrative are soldiers returning home, and James noted, “It’s just more about the process and reacclimating one to civilian life and one to doing normal things again. That was definitely a part of the research, what kinds of things one would be thinking about and talking about in those sessions. But uniquely with Walter, he was very, very optimistic coming into this program, very eager to come into a situation where he felt like he needed help and was ready to accept that help. So I think that where he started in this program, for me it was really — I sort of took a different approach in the research.”
When EURweb.com reporter Ny MaGee asked James to describe Walter and Heidi’s dynamic, Roberts chimed in with: “We just want to keep the suspense. I mean, imagine the possibilities of the things.”
James also teased, “We definitely want to keep the suspense, but I think that their relationship grows and they become very trusting of one another. And it’s a very, very special relationship that they manage to create.”
“Homecoming” will debut exclusively on Amazon Prime Video November 2.
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