Oscar winner Chris Cooper (Adaptation) is set to star opposite Janelle Monáe in the second season of Amazon’s psychological thriller drama series Homecoming, executive produced by Sam Esmail.

Season 2 of Homecoming will deviate from the popular Gimlet Media’s podcast on which Season 1 was based on and will introduce new characters, including those played by Monáe and Cooper. Returning from Season 1 are Stephan James and Hong Chau.

Cooper will play Leonard Geist, an eccentric botanist who is more at home in his greenhouse than in the boardrooms of the company he created. Monáe plays a woman who finds herself floating in a canoe, with no memory of how she got there — or even who she is.

Kyle Patrick Alvarez will direct all episodes, taking over from Esmail, who helmed all episodes in Season 1.

Created by Eli Horowitz and Micah Bloomberg, Homecoming is co-produced by Amazon Studios and UCP. The series is executive produced by Esmail through his production company Esmail Corp; as well as Chad Hamilton of Anonymous Content; Horowitz and Bloomberg; Alvarez; and Chris Giliberti, Alex Blumberg and Matt Lieber of Gimlet Media. Roberts will also serve as executive producer through her production company Red Om Films.

Cooper next will be seen co-starring opposite Tom Hanks and Matthew Rhys in Marielle Heller’s Fred Rogers movie A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood, which will premiere at the Toronto Film Festival this month. He also co-stars in Greta Gerwig’s upcoming film Little Women opposite Meryl Streep and Saoirse Ronan and recently completed production on Jon Stewart’s political comedy Irresistible opposite Steve Carell and Rose Byrne. Cooper is repped by CAA and Authentic Talent and Literary Management.