Amazon‘s The Man in the High Castle has an interesting premise at its heart. Based on Philip K. Dick‘s alternate-history novel of the same name, the series begins in 1963; decades after the Axis powers won World War II. Set in Japanese occupied California, a network of military personal, politicians, and oppressed civilians struggle with shifts in power as Nazi Germany, now in control of Europe and the Eastern United States, attempts to increase its world influence. After a young San Franciscan woman discovers a reel of film purportedly showing Allied forces winning the war, hope is once again ignited as the fragile political climate begins to disintegrate. The first episode was part of this year’s Amazon Pilot Season, and I highly recommend checking it out now the show has been ordered to series.
Watch the full season trailer below:
The Man in the High Castle features Alexa Davalos (The Chronicles of Riddick, The Mist), Rupert Evans (Hellboy, Agora), and a particularly menacing Rupert Sewell (Dark City, A Night’s Tale). The series will be produced by Ridley Scott (Alien, Blade Runner), and you can see his influence in the show’s dark dystopian aesthetic. Showrunner Frank Spotnitz is best known as a writer and executive-producer on The X-Files and Crossing Lines. Philip K. Dick‘s novel won the American author a Hugo Award and is widely recognised as his most literary work. Unfortunately the book’s unwieldily narrative has been cut down for television; Dick used the I Ching, or Book of Changes; an ancient divination text, to formulate his story.
The Man in the High Castle will hit Amazon Prime on November 20.
#Peace.Love.AlternateHistories
