Sam Esmail's Homecoming is an incredibly intelligent TV series that keeps viewers guessing. While some shows lay it all out there and fans can easily tell what's going on, that's not the case with this Amazon Prime drama series. Everything from the camera angles to the music to the dialogue is compelling, and there's a lot of anticipation for the second season.
Many of the characters on this show are pretty mysterious, and it seems that many of them have deep thoughts about their situation. Here is every character on Homecoming, ranked by intelligence.
Colin Belfast
Bobby Cannavale's Homecoming character, Colin Belfast, definitely doesn't seem like a very smart person. He's evil, sure, but not that smart. Whenever he's in a scene with another character, it's clear that they're more knowledgeable than he is.
Colin may be Heidi's manager at the facility, but she definitely is much smarter than him, and it seems like he spends the majority of his time bossing people around and talking on the phone. He may be in charge, but he doesn't have book or street smarts.
Craig
Craig (Alex Karpovsky) works at the Homecoming facility with Heidi. Although fans don't get to know him very well, he doesn't seem like he's quite as intelligent as some of the other characters, which is why he makes it onto number nine on this list.
While some people on the show figure out the evil nature of the facility, it doesn't seem like Craig has come that far. He seems much more innocent.
Anthony
Anthony (Dermot Mulroney) and Heidi are in a relationship for a while, but it's pretty obvious that things aren't going to work out for them. He seems to care much more about than she cares about him.
When Heidi breaks up with him, it seems like she knows that she can't ever be honest with him about her experiences or share her emotions.
Ellen Bergman
Sissy Spacek's Homecoming character, Ellen Bergman, is Heidi's mom. At first, she seems like a pretty innocent and naive person, and it's not clear that she knows much about the situation.
But as the first season goes on, it seems like she's aware of more than she's letting on, especially through one conversation that she has with her daughter. When Ellen says, "People make compromises. You did what you had to do. You took a job," Heidi says, "My job was to help them." Ellen responds, "Maybe it wasn't," making it clear that she's a pretty deep thinker.
Shrier
Jeremy Allen White's Homecoming character, Shrier, is friends with Walter Cruz. Shrier ranks in the middle of the list because, while it seems like he doesn't know the full extent of what's going on, he definitely has a bad feeling about the facility, and he knows that the employees are up to no good. He has a gut feeling that there's something sinister happening and that counts for a lot. Instead of assuming that he should follow the program, he starts wondering about it.
Audrey
Audrey (Hong Chau) works at Geist Emergent Group, which is the company that is in charge of the Homecoming Facility. Viewers see her in an important scene in the Season 1 finale, and Colin tells her that he understands the part that he played in the situation.
Viewers see Audrey seeming to use the same medication that was given to the soldiers at the facility, which would mean that she wouldn't remember anything that had just taken place. The fact that she is doing this and thinking ahead seems to suggest that she's definitely smart.
Thomas Carrasco
At number four on this list is Thomas Carrasco, played by Shea Whigham. Thomas works for the Department of Defense and he's looking into what happened at the Homecoming Facility...but, of course, since he's basically just a bureaucrat, he can't really go into what went down.
He's a smart person, especially when he says the following quote, which makes it obvious that he knows more is going on beneath the surface: "I know what people think. I'm just a — I'm a cog. And I am. I elevate or dismiss the complaint. But that decision — that decision is used to turn other cogs, and they turn others. And that's what justice is."
Walter Cruz
Walter Cruz (Stephan James) is at number three. He seems like he's working through the program at first, and it's clear that he and Heidi have a special relationship. But as time goes on, it becomes clear to viewers that Walter understands that nothing positive is happening. He's not being trained to return to civilian society at all; he's being brainwashed into going back to war.
Walter could ignore his gut feelings and pretend that everything is okay, but he doesn't want to do that, and this makes him a super smart person. It takes a lot of courage for someone to go against what they're being told.
Gloria Cruz
Walter's mom, Gloria Cruz (Marianne Jean-Baptiste), is one of the most intelligent characters on the show as she isn't going to take what her son is going through lying down. She knows that everyone is being lied to, and she wants to get to the bottom of the situation and find the truth.
Gloria is just as brave as her son, and it's really moving to watch her journey in the first season as she keeps investigating. Not everyone would follow the threads that they've found, especially when it could really disturb them.
Heidi Bergman
Heidi Bergman is definitely the most intelligent character on Homecoming. Played by Julia Roberts, she understands that she was involved in something horrible at the facility, and through two different time periods, fans get to watch her figure it out.
It seems like if anyone could discover the truth, it would be Heidi. Even though her memory is foggy for some parts of the show, she always seems cool, calm and collected, and she can read between the lines of what someone is telling her.