By Travis Johnson
Julia Roberts is making the jump to episodic television .Amazon Video today announced that the Pretty Woman star will headline their new psychological thriller series, Homecoming, which is set to debut later this year.
Directed by Sam Esmail (Mr. Robot), Homecoming is based on the fictional podcast of the same name. Roberts will play Heidi Bergman, a small town waitress living with her mother (Sissy Spacek) whose former life as a caseworker helping soldiers transition back to civilian life comes back to haunt her when a Department of Defence auditor (Shea Whigham) comes to her with questions about why she left her old job. Stephen James, Bobby Cannavale, Jeremy Allen White, Alex Karpovsky, and Dermot Mulroney co-star.
This isn’t Roberts first foray into TV – she starred in the HBO TV movie The Normal Heart in 2014, and back in the day she was known to make the odd cameo on Friends and Law & Order. This will be first regular recurring role on a TV series, though, and if nothing else that’s a pretty strong indication that the formerly strong border between the worlds of television and cinema is remarkably porous these days.
Homecoming is created by Eli Horowitz and Micah Bloomberg. Amazon have released two first look images – expect a trailer before too long.
