What to read, watch, and listen to if you lovedHome
Marilynne Robinson · Book · 2024
If you loved Home, start with Dexter: Resurrection (Clyde Phillips, 2025) — a series on the same thread. Below: 4 films, 4 series and 2 podcasts, each matched to Home across media.
If you loved Home, you will be drawn to these stories that examine the heavy, complicated weight of returning to one's roots.
Films on the same thread
The Grapes of Wrath
John Ford · Film · 1940
Explores: Economic hardship, Family resilience, The American Dream disillusionment.
Much like the prodigal son narrative in Home, this story captures the profound tension of a man returning home to a family forever altered by economic and personal displacement.
Remarkably Bright Creatures
Olivia Newman · Film · 2026
Explores: Grief and healing, Intergenerational friendship, Hidden secrets.
While Home explores the quiet ache of family secrets, this narrative mirrors that emotional depth through the lens of healing, showing how unlikely connections can mend long-standing personal fractures.
Reminders of Him
Vanessa Caswill · Film · 2026
Explores: Estranged motherhood, Second chances, Forbidden romance.
The struggle for redemption and the difficult path toward forgiveness central to Home are echoed here, as a mother fights to reconcile her past with the chance for a future.
The Housemaid
Paul Feig · Film · 2025
Explores: Class Conflict, Gaslighting, Identity Theft.
Where Home uses domestic space to uncover deep-seated family truths, this thriller sharpens that focus, revealing how the hidden secrets within a household can unravel everything one thought they knew.
Series on the same thread
Dexter: Resurrection
Clyde Phillips · Series · 2025
Shares a thread with Home: Redemption.
The complex father-son dynamic that drives the emotional core of Home is revisited here, as a man confronts the lasting impact of his past sins on his estranged child.
Your Friends & Neighbors
Jonathan Tropper · Series · 2025
Explores: wealth inequality, midlife crisis, moral decay.
If the moral ambiguity and suburban malaise of Home resonated with you, this story offers a darker look at how individuals spiral when their societal roles and identities begin to collapse.
Malcolm in the Middle: Life's Still Unfair
Linwood Boomer · Series · 2026
Explores: familial obligation, generational trauma, estrangement.
This exploration of estrangement and familial obligation captures the same uncomfortable tension found in Home, focusing on the inevitable friction that occurs when one is pulled back into their origins.
All Her Fault
Megan Gallagher · Series · 2025
Explores: Missing Child, Parental Fears, Suburban Secrets.
Home masterfully uses the setting of a small town to house large secrets, a technique utilized here to heighten the mounting dread as a mother confronts a suburban mystery.
Podcasts on the same thread
The Way I Heard It with Mike Rowe
The Way I Heard It with Mike Rowe · Podcast · 2026
Explores: untold historical anecdotes, curiosity-driven learning, American cultural history.
The inquisitive, reflective nature of the prose in Home finds a match in these stories, which similarly peel back the layers of human experience to reveal the history within.
The Archers
Podcast
Explores: family life, community, farming.
The focus on rural community and the slow, nuanced evolution of long-term relationships in Home is mirrored in this serialized drama, which tracks the enduring rhythms of domestic life.
Keep exploring
Common questions
Is Home a sequel to Gilead?
Home is not a traditional sequel to Gilead. It is a retelling of the prodigal son parable set in the same Iowa town at the same moment as the events described in Gilead, allowing readers to experience the narrative from a different perspective within the same setting.
What is the premise of Home by Marilynne Robinson?
Home follows the return of the Reverend Boughton's son, Jack, who comes back to his Iowa hometown after an absence of twenty years. The story reimagines the prodigal son parable and explores the complex family dynamics that unfold during his homecoming in this specific literary setting.
Should I read Gilead before reading Home?
While Home is set in the same town and during the same timeframe as Gilead, it functions as a distinct narrative focused on the return of Jack Boughton. You can read it as a companion piece to the events and atmosphere established in the earlier work.
How does Home relate to the prodigal son parable?
Home is a brilliantly imagined retelling of the prodigal son parable. It centers on the character of Jack, the hell-raising son of the Reverend Boughton, who returns to the family home after twenty years away, mirroring the themes of return and reconciliation found in the original biblical story.