The Man in the High Castle is an American dystopian alternate history television series created for the streaming service Amazon Prime Video, depicting a parallel universe in which the Axis powers of Nazi Germany and the Empire of Japan rule the world after their victory in World War II. It was created by Frank Spotnitz and produced by Amazon Studios, Ridley Scott's Scott Free Productions (with Scott as executive producer), Headline Pictures, Electric Shepherd Productions, and Big Light Productions. It is based on the 1962 novel The Man in the High Castle by Philip K. Dick.
The pilot premiered in January 2015, and Amazon ordered a ten-episode season the following month which was released in November. A second season of ten episodes premiered in December 2016, and a third season was released on October 5, 2018. The fourth and final season premiered on November 15, 2019.
Contents
Setting
The Man in the High Castle is set in 1962 in an alternate history in which the Axis powers have won World War II in 1946 after Giuseppe Zangara assassinates the president-elect of the United States, Franklin D. Roosevelt, in 1933. A series of developments follow that include the Germans dropping a nuclear weapon on Washington, D.C. (now renamed "District of Contamination") in late 1945. The Japanese launch a ground invasion of the U.S. West Coast. The American federal government surrenders, though it takes another year for the Axis and their American collaborators to pacify the country. The Germans build concentration camps for the enslavement and eventual extermination of Jewish Americans and African Americans and commit massacres in cities such as Cincinnati.
By 1962, the German Reich extends to Europe and Africa and the Empire of Japan comprises Asia and Oceania, but most of the series is set in the former U.S. and in Germany proper. Adolf Hitler is dictator of this German Reich, and the emperor of Japan rules most of the rest of the world. Although the real-world Axis included Fascist Italy under the dictatorship of Benito Mussolini, only the Japanese and German factions of the Axis are depicted. There are no Italians in the scenario, nor is Mussolini accounted for, except as an image in one of the mysterious newsreels with the Führer.
Western North America, the "Japanese Pacific States", is occupied by the technologically less advanced Shōwa-era Empire of Japan, which has imposed its hierarchical society on their part of the former United States. The Empire treats non-Japanese as subjects with fewer rights and little prospect of advancement in Imperial society, although some upper-class Japanese are fascinated by pre-war American culture. Japan's trade and science ministers work in the Pacific States' capital, San Francisco, California. The Yakuza wield extensive influence in Japanese America and are largely tolerated by the Kempeitai. In season 4, an organization calling itself the Black Communist Rebellion takes up arms against the Japanese, gaining ground as the Empire's strength wanes.
Eastern and Midwestern North America is a colony controlled by the Greater Nazi Reich (GNR) under an aging Hitler. Headed by a "Reichsmarschall of North America", it is commonly referred to as "Nazi America" or "the American Reich" and its capital is New York City, which survived the war and invasion largely intact. The Nazis continue to hunt minorities and kill the physically and mentally ill. Fictional developments of 1960s technology, such as video phones, live surveillance video (CCTV), and supersonic airliners that were technologically available in the 1960s but never commercially produced, are seen in the series.
Cast
Main
Alexa Davalos as Juliana Crain, a young woman from San Francisco who is outwardly happy living under Japanese control. She is an expert in aikido and is friendly with the Japanese people who live in San Francisco. As Juliana learns of the Man in the High Castle and his films, she begins to rebel.
Rupert Evans as Frank Frink (seasons 1–3), Juliana's boyfriend. He works in a factory creating replicas of prewar American pistols, and creates original jewelry and sketches on his own time. Frank's grandfather was Jewish, making him a target of discrimination. When Juliana vanishes just after the police kill her sister, Frank is taken into custody. Soon after, he turns against the state and works with the American Resistance.
Luke Kleintank as Joe Blake (seasons 1–3), a new recruit to the underground American Resistance who is actually an agent working for the Schutzstaffel (SS), under Obergruppenführer John Smith. He transports a reel of the forbidden film The Grasshopper Lies Heavy to the neutral Rocky Mountain States as part of his mission to infiltrate the Resistance. He meets Juliana and quickly falls in love with her, leading to him questioning his allegiance to the Reich.
DJ Qualls as Ed McCarthy (seasons 1–3), Frank's co-worker and friend. He closely follows politics and cares very much about Juliana and Frank's well-being. It is revealed in season three that Ed is gay.
Joel de la Fuente as Colonel Takeshi Kido, the chief inspector who is the ruthless head of the Kempeitai stationed in San Francisco
Cary-Hiroyuki Tagawa as Nobusuke Tagomi (seasons 1–3), the Trade Minister of the Japanese Pacific States. His true loyalties are ambiguous throughout the first season.
Rufus Sewell as John Smith, an SS Obergruppenführer, later promoted to Oberst-Gruppenführer, and then to Reichsmarschall of the colony of North America (near series end becoming Reichsführer of a newly autonomous North American Reich) who is investigating the Resistance in New York. He is a natural-born American who had served in the US Army Signal Corps before taking the Reich's offer to join them. He initially lives a comfortable suburban life with a wife and three children but subsequently moves the family to Manhattan.
Recurring
Officials
Aaron Blakely as Erich Raeder (seasons 1–3), an SS-Sturmbannführer, John Smith's right-hand man
Carsten Norgaard as Rudolph Wegener (seasons 1, 3), a disillusioned high-ranking Nazi official who trades secrets with Tagomi and is friends with John Smith
Bernhard Forcher as Hugo Reiss (season 1), the German ambassador to the Japanese Pacific States
Aubrey Deeker as Kurt Scausch (season 1), a member of the SS working alongside Hugo Reiss
Neal Bledsoe as SS-Captain Connolly (season 1), an American SS officer serving under John Smith, later revealed to be a spy working for Reinhard Heydrich
Raresh DiMofte as Karl Müller (season 1), a SS-Sturmbannführer who was sent to San Francisco in order to assassinate the Japanese crown prince to provoke a war between the GNR and JPS
Sebastian Roché as Martin Heusmann (seasons 2–3), a high-ranking Reichsminister in the Nazi government and Joe Blake's biological father
Adrian Hough as Carl Weber (season 3), the Nazi ambassador to the JPS, replacing Hugo Reiss
Eric Lange as General Whitcroft (season 4), John Smith's second-in-command
Marc Rissmann as Wilhelm Goertzmann (season 4), an Obergruppenführer from Berlin
Civilians
Jessie Fraser as Rita Pearce (seasons 1–2), Joe's lover, who leaves him after finding out about Juliana
Episodes
Production
Development
In 2010, it was announced that the BBC would co-produce a four-part TV adaptation of The Man in the High Castle for BBC One together with Headline Pictures, FremantleMedia Enterprises and Scott Free Films. Director Ridley Scott was to act as executive producer of the adaptation by Howard Brenton. On February 11, 2013, Variety reported that Syfy was producing the book as a four-part miniseries, with Frank Spotnitz and Scott as executive producers, co-produced with Scott Free Productions, Headline Pictures and Electric Shepherd Prods.
On October 1, 2014, Amazon Studios began filming the pilot episode for a potential television drama to be broadcast on their Prime web video streaming service. Adapted by Spotnitz, the project was produced for Amazon by Scott, David Zucker and Jordan Sheehan for Scott Free, Stewart Mackinnon and Christian Baute for Headline Pictures, Isa Hackett and Kalen Egan for Electric Shepherd and Spotnitz's Big Light Productions. The pilot was released by Amazon Studios on January 15, 2015. Amazon Studios' production process is somewhat different from those of other conventional television channels in that they produce pilot episodes of a number of different prospective programs, then release them and gather data on their success. The most promising shows are then picked up as regular series. On February 18, 2015, Amazon green-lit The Man in the High Castle along with four other series.
The pilot, which premiered in January 2015, was Amazon's "most-watched since the original series development program began". The next month, Amazon ordered a ten-episode season, which was released in November to positive reviews. A second season of ten episodes premiered in December 2016. For the third season, Spotnitz was succeeded by Eric Overmyer as executive producer and showrunner. Season three was released on October 5, 2018. Daniel Percival and David Scarpa took over as showrunners for the fourth, and final, season.
Filming
Principal filming for the pilot took place in Seattle, with the city standing in for San Francisco and locations in New York City. Filming also took place in Roslyn, Washington, with the town standing in for Canon City and other Neutral Zone locations. Sites used in Seattle include the Seattle Center Monorail, the Paramount Theatre, a newspaper office in the Pike Place Market area, as well as various buildings in the city's Capitol Hill, International District, and Georgetown neighborhoods. In Roslyn, the production used external shots of the Roslyn Cafe, along with several local businesses and scenery.
For the series, filming took place in Vancouver, British Columbia. Specific filming locations included West Georgia Street in the city's downtown core, and the promenade of the Coast Capital Savings building in April 2015. In May and June 2015, filming also took place at the University of British Columbia. Exterior shots of Hohenwerfen Castle in Werfen, Austria, were filmed in September 2015 for the tenth episode of the first season. The interior scene where Hitler and Rudolph Wegener meet was shot on the ground floor of the Bell Tower at Berlin's Olympic Stadium, part of the Olympic complex built during the Nazi era.
Release
The first and second episodes were screened at a special Comic-Con event. The season premiered on November 20, 2015. The second season was released on December 16, 2016. The third season was released on October 5, 2018. The fourth season was released on November 15, 2019.
As of 2026, the series is streaming on Amazon Prime and Netflix.
Reception
The pilot was Amazon's "most-watched since the original series development program began". The first season received critical acclaim. Rotten Tomatoes gives it an approval rating of 95% based on reviews from 62 critics, with an average rating of 7.5 out of 10. The site's critical consensus states, "By executive producer Ridley Scott, The Man in the High Castle is unlike anything else on TV, with an immediately engrossing plot driven by quickly developed characters in a fully realized post-WWII dystopia." Metacritic gives the first season a score of 77 out of 100, based on reviews from 30 critics, indicating "generally favorable reviews".
Meredith Woerner from io9 wrote, "I can honestly say I loved this pilot. It's an impressive, streamlined undertaking of a fairly complicated and very beloved novel." Matt Fowler from IGN gave it 9.2 out of 10 and described the series as "a superb, frightening experience filled with unexpected twists and (some sci-fi) turns". Brian Moylan of The Guardian was positive and praised the convincing depiction as well as the complex and gripping plot. The Los Angeles Times described the pilot as "provocative" and "smartly adapted by The X-Files' Frank Spotnitz". The Daily Telegraph said it was "absorbing", and Wired called it "must-see viewing". Entertainment Weekly said it was "engrossing" and "a triumph in world-building", cheering, "The Man in the High Castle is king." After the season, Rolling Stone included it on a list of the 40 best science fiction television shows of all time. Amazon subsequently declared it the service's most-streamed original series and renewed it for a second season.
The second season received mixed reviews. Rotten Tomatoes gives it an approval rating of 64%, based on reviews from 25 critics with an average rating of 7 out of 10. The site's critical consensus states, "Although its plot is admittedly unwieldy, The Man in the High Castle's second season expands its fascinating premise in powerful new directions, bolstered by stunning visuals, strong performances, and intriguing new possibilities." Metacritic gave season 2 a score of 62 out of 100, based on reviews from ten critics, indicating "generally favorable reviews".
The third season was met with positive reviews. Rotten Tomatoes gives it an approval rating of 86%, based on reviews from 21 critics with an average rating of 7.4 out of 10. The site's critical consensus states, "The crafty addition of minor sci-fi elements and a terrific William Forsythe to the show's already engrossing narrative make The Man in the High Castle's third season another worthy binge." Metacritic gives season 3 a score of 70 out of 100, based on reviews from five critics, indicating "generally favorable reviews".
Advertising controversy
As part of an advertising campaign for the season one release, an entire New York City Subway car was covered with Nazi and Imperial Japanese imagery, as seen in the show, including multiple US flags with the Imperial Eagle symbol in place of the 50 stars (a change from the swastika used on the flag in the show), and multiple flags of the fictional Pacific States. In response to criticism from "state lawmakers and city leaders", the Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) released a statement saying that there were no grounds to reject the ads because the neutral content subway ad standards prohibit only advertising that is a political advertisement or disparages an individual or group. MTA spokesperson Kevin Ortiz stated, "The MTA is a government agency and can't accept or reject ads based on how we feel about them; we have to follow the standards approved by our board. Please note they're commercial ads." Spokesperson Adam Lisberg said, "This advertising, whether you find it distasteful or not, obviously they're not advertising Nazism; they're advertising a TV show."
After complaints from New York State Governor Andrew Cuomo and New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio, initial reports indicated that Amazon pulled the advertisement from the subway. It was actually the MTA, not Amazon, that pulled the ad because of pressure from Cuomo.