Homecoming, the chilling and intriguing thriller based on a hit podcast of the same name, is coming back for a second series on Amazon.

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And while Julia Roberts starred in season one, season two has a new lead actor – in the form of Janelle Monáe. Here's everything you need to know...

When is Homecoming season 2 on Amazon?

CONFIRMED: Homecoming season two arrives on Amazon Prime Video on 22nd May 2020.

The drama was originally ordered for two seasons, so this has been in the works from the very beginning!

Is there a Homecoming season 2 trailer?

There is a teaser trailer, which you can watch below!

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What's going to happen in Homecoming season 2?

According to Amazon, this will be a "fresh new mystery" which begins when Janelle Monáe's character "wakes in a rowboat adrift a lake, with no memory of how she got there — or even who she is. Her ensuing search for identity will lead her into the heart of the Geist Group, the unconventional wellness company behind the Homecoming Initiative."

Stephen James reprises his role as Walter Cruz, "who is trying to build a new life following the traumas of war and the Homecoming Initiative, when he begins to realise that there’s an even more insidious version of the programme underway – if only he can remember."

We'll also see the return of Hong Chau as Audrey Temple, "an anonymous underling at Geist who finds herself thrust into unexpected positions at the top of the corporate ladder."

Here are all the questions we have ahead of series two.

Who's in the cast of Homecoming season 2?

Homecoming season 2

After season one, it was announced that Julia Roberts would not be reprising her role in the next season of Homecoming. Roberts’ portrayal of the series lead, caseworker Heidi Bergman, marked her first regular part in a TV series – but the actress only had a one-year deal to star in the show, according to The Hollywood Reporter. The actress will, however, remain on board as an executive producer.

Instead, we'll be seeing Janelle Monáe in the main role. The American singer-songwriter and actress has previously appeared in movies including Moonlight and Hidden Figures.

Joining the cast for season two are two important new characters: Oscar-winner Chris Cooper as Leonard Geist, the company’s eccentric founder; and Emmy-winner Joan Cusack as Francine Bunda, an equally eccentric military woman.

No word yet on whether we'll be seeing more of Bobby Cannavale as Heidi's boss Colin Belfast, Shea Whigham as Thomas Carrasco from the Department of Defence, Alex Karpovsky as Homecoming employee Craig, Sissy Spacek as Heidi's mother Ellen Bergman, Marianne Jean-Baptiste as Walter's mother Gloria Cruz, Dermot Mulroney as Heidi's on-off boyfriend Anthony, or Jeremy Allen White as veteran Shrier.

What happened in Homecoming season 1?

The psychological thriller, based on a podcast of the same name, told the story of Heidi Bergman, a counsellor in a privately run retreat for returning war veterans who befriends a charming young soldier, Walter Cruz.

Over the course of the series, we discovered that the Homecoming facility isn't actually helping the soldiers, it's being run by a shady pharmaceutical agency called Geist which is pumping them with a drug that claims to treat PTSD, but is actually deleting their memories so that the government can't redeploy them.

Heidi, on realising the true evil of the corporation she has been tricked into working for, takes the drug herself to destroy any memories of working there. She also ups Walter's doses so that he won't be fit enough to go out to fight, but then he vanishes.

Years later, after Thomas Carrasco from the Department of Defence begins to investigate the case and Heidi is able to re-access her memories, she travels to see Walter only to find he has forgotten her entirely.

What is the Homecoming podcast?

Homecoming's first incarnation was as a scripted podcast series, written by Eli Horowitz and Micah Bloomberg, who adapted it for the small screen with director Sam Esmail.

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It had a super starry voice cast, including Catherine Keener as Heidi Bergman, Oscar Isaac as Walter Cruz, and David Schwimmer as Colin Belfast.

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