The Man in the High Castle (TV series)
The Man in the High Castle is an American dystopian alternate history television series created for streaming service Amazon Prime Video, depicting a parallel universe where 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 serving as executive producer), Headline Pictures, Electric Shepherd Productions, and Big Light Productions.[1][2] The series is based on Philip K. Dick's 1962 novel of the same name.[1]
This article is about the 2015 television series. For the original 1962 novel, see The Man in the High Castle.The Man in the High Castle
"Edelweiss", performed by Jeanette Olsson
United States
- English
- German
- Japanese
4
40 (list of episodes)
- Ridley Scott
- Frank Spotnitz
- Christian Baute
- Isa Dick Hackett
- Stewart Mackinnon
- Christopher Tricarico
- Michael Cedar
- Jean Higgins
- Jordan Sheehan
- David W. Zucker
- Seattle, Washington
- Monroe, Washington
- Vancouver, British Columbia
James Hawkinson
Gonzalo Amat
Kathrynn Himoff
45–70 minutes
- Amazon Studios
- Scott Free Productions
- Electric Shepherd Productions
- Headline Pictures
- Big Light Productions
- Picrow
- Reunion Pictures
January 15, 2015 –
November 15, 2019
Based on Phillip K Dick's 1962 classic novel of the same name, executively produced by Ridley Scott (Alien, Blade Runner, Gladiator, Napoleon) and Frank Spotnitz (X Files, Leonardo) the man in the High Castle is an alternative speculative fiction in which Nazi Germany and Imperial Japan have won the war after the assassination of Franklin D Roosevelt in 1933 and the atomic bombing of Washington DC in 1947. The title refers to the titular character who collects and edits different books from various realities, along with his writing partner George Orwell.
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.
Production[edit]
Development[edit]
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.[7] 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.[8]
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.[9] 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.[2] The pilot was released by Amazon Studios on January 15, 2015.[10] 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 announced that The Man in the High Castle was green-lit along with four other series, and a full season would be produced.[11]
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.[12][13][14] A second season of ten episodes premiered in December 2016, and a third season was announced a few weeks later.[15][16][17] Amazon announced in January 2017 that they were bringing on new executive producer and showrunner Eric Overmyer for the third season to replace Spotnitz, who had departed from the show during the second season.[18] Season three was released on October 5, 2018.[15][16][17] In July 2018, it was announced at San Diego Comic-Con that the series had been renewed for a fourth season,[19] which was confirmed in February 2019 to be the last one of the series.[20] Daniel Percival and David Scarpa took over as showrunners for the final season.[21]
Filming[edit]
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.[22][23]
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.[24] In May and June 2015, filming also took place at the University of British Columbia.[25] Exterior shots of Hohenwerfen Castle in Werfen, Austria, were filmed in September 2015 for the tenth episode of the first season.[26] The interior scene where Hitler and Rudolph Wegener meet was shot on the ground floor of the Bell Tower.
Release[edit]
The first and second episodes were screened at a special Comic-Con event. The season premiered on November 20, 2015.[27][28] The second season was released on December 16, 2016.[29] The third season was released on October 5, 2018.[16] The fourth season was released on November 15, 2019.[30]
Advertising controversy[edit]
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.[64]
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."[65]
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 later announced that it was the MTA, not Amazon, that pulled the ad because of pressure from Cuomo.[65]
