The Man in the High Castle (TV series)

Did You Know?

• As of 2026, the series is streaming on Amazon Prime and Netflix.
• The first season received a 95% approval rating on Rotten Tomatoes based on 62 critics.
• An advertising campaign for season one covered an entire New York City Subway car with Nazi and Imperial Japanese imagery, which drew criticism from state lawmakers and city leaders.

Setting

The story takes place in 1962, but in a timeline where the Axis triumphed in World War II. This outcome was set in motion when Giuseppe Zangara killed president-elect Franklin D. Roosevelt in 1933. By late 1945, Germany had dropped an atomic bomb on Washington, D.C., which is now called the District of Contamination, while Japan invaded the West Coast of the United States on the ground. The U.S. government gave up, though it took another year for the Axis and their American allies to fully control the country. The Germans set up concentration camps to enslave and eventually kill Jewish Americans and African Americans, and they carried out massacres in places like Cincinnati. By the year 1962, the German Reich rules over Europe and Africa, and the Japanese Empire controls Asia and Oceania. The series mostly takes place in the former United States and in Germany itself. The western part of North America, known as the Japanese Pacific States, is under the occupation of Japan’s Shōwa-era empire, which forces its strict social hierarchy on the region. The Yakuza have a lot of power in Japanese America, and the Kempeitai mostly lets them operate. In the fourth season, a group called the Black Communist Rebellion starts fighting against the Japanese.

Plot

In an alternate 1962, Juliana Crain, a woman in Japanese-ruled San Francisco, becomes entangled with the resistance when her half-sister Trudy Walker is killed by Chief Inspector Takeshi Kido of the Kempeitai. Before dying, Trudy gives Juliana a film canister containing a newsreel titled The Grasshopper Lies Heavy, which depicts an alternate history where the Allies defeated Germany and Japan. The film is part of a series of 8 mm reels collected and distributed by the mysterious underground figure known as the Man in the High Castle, later revealed to be resistance chief Hawthorne Abendsen. Juliana believes the newsreel reflects an alternate reality and travels to Canon City, Colorado, in the Neutral Zone to find out what Trudy's mission was. There she encounters Joe Blake, a resistance member who is actually a double agent working for the Nazis under Obergruppenführer John Smith. Frank Frink, Juliana's boyfriend, is arrested when the Japanese and Nazis become suspicious of Juliana's activities. The Japanese kill Frank's sister and her two children, using their Jewish heritage as an excuse. Frank plans to kill the visiting Japanese Crown Prince but hesitates; the Crown Prince is shot by a Nazi sniper. Later it is revealed these events are part of a conspiracy to start World War III to destroy Japanese hegemony and clear the path for world domination under a single government.

Cast

Alexa Davalos plays Juliana Crain, a young woman from San Francisco who is outwardly happy under Japanese control, an expert in aikido, and friendly with Japanese people. Rupert Evans portrays Frank Frink, Juliana's boyfriend who works in a factory creating replicas of prewar American pistols and creates original jewelry; his grandfather was Jewish, making him a target of discrimination. Luke Kleintank plays Joe Blake, a new recruit to the underground American Resistance who is actually an agent working for the SS under Obergruppenführer John Smith; he transports a reel of the forbidden film to the neutral Rocky Mountain States and falls in love with Juliana. DJ Qualls plays Ed McCarthy, Frank's co-worker and friend who closely follows politics; it is revealed in season three that Ed is gay. Joel de la Fuente plays Colonel Takeshi Kido, the ruthless head of the Kempeitai in San Francisco. Cary-Hiroyuki Tagawa plays Nobusuke Tagomi, the Trade Minister of the Japanese Pacific States. Rufus Sewell plays John Smith, an SS Obergruppenführer later promoted to Reichsmarschall of the colony of North America; he is a natural-born American who served in the US Army Signal Corps before joining the Reich. Chelah Horsdal plays Helen Smith, John Smith's wife and a socialite in New York City, who plays an enormous role in John Smith switching allegiance to the Nazis.

Production

The BBC initially planned a four-part television adaptation of The Man in the High Castle in 2010, co-produced with Headline Pictures, FremantleMedia Enterprises, and Scott Free Films, with Ridley Scott serving as executive producer and Howard Brenton writing the adaptation. In February 2013, Syfy was reported to be developing the book as a four-part miniseries, with Frank Spotnitz and Scott as executive producers, co-produced by Scott Free Productions, Headline Pictures, and Electric Shepherd Productions. Amazon Studios began filming a pilot for a potential series on their Prime streaming service on October 1, 2014, adapted by Spotnitz and produced by Scott, David Zucker, Jordan Sheehan, Stewart Mackinnon, Christian Baute, Isa Hackett, Kalen Egan, and Spotnitz's Big Light Productions. The pilot was released on January 15, 2015. Amazon's process involves releasing pilots and analyzing data before ordering series; on February 18, 2015, the show was green-lit alongside four others. The pilot became Amazon's most-watched since the program began. A ten-episode first season was ordered the following month and released in November. A second ten-episode season premiered in December 2016. Eric Overmyer replaced Spotnitz as executive producer and showrunner for the third season, released on October 5, 2018. Daniel Percival and David Scarpa took over as showrunners for the fourth and final season. Principal filming for the pilot occurred in Seattle, standing in for San Francisco and New York City locations, and in Roslyn, Washington, representing Canon City and other Neutral Zone sites.