David Farnor | On 17, Oct 2019

The Man in the High Castle returns for its fourth and final season this November, and the first full trailer gives us a long-awaited glimpse of one of the greatest battles in history. Well, some version of history, anyway.

The sci-fi series, which is based on Philip K. Dick’s 1962 novel, explores what would have happened if the Allied Powers had lost World War II. After a hugely successful first and second season, the show launched its third season last year, with an expanding cast that included a new male lead (Jason O’Mara) opposite returning leads (Alexa Davalos, Rupert Evans and Rufus Sewell) and William Forsythe as none other than J. Edgar Hoover. Amazon ordered a fourth run of the drama before the third had even aired, with Daniel Percival (Banished) and David Scarpa (All the Money in the World) serving as co-showrunners and Isa Dick Hackett, Philip K. Dick’s daughter, remaining on board as an executive producer.

Amazon has since confirmed that Season 4 will be the show’s last, with the carefully constructed world rocked by war and revolution. The final run will see The Resistance become a full-blown rebellion, driven by Juliana Crain’s (Alexa Davalos) visions of a better world. A new Black insurgent movement emerges to fight the forces of Nazism and imperialism. As empires teeter, Chief Inspector Takeshi Kido (Joel De La Fuente) will find himself torn between his duty to his country and the bonds of family. Meanwhile, Reichsmarschall John Smith (Rufus Sewell) will be drawn towards the possibility of the path not taken.

Ends will meet on 15th November, when The Man in the High Castle Season 4 premieres on Amazon Prime Video. Here’s the trailer:

 

First look: The Man in the High Castle Season 4 arrives this November

21st July 2019

The Man in the High Castle returns for its final season this November and we’ve got our first look at the opening minutes.

The sci-fi alt-history series, which is based on Philip K. Dick’s 1962 novel, explores what would have happened if the Allied Powers had lost World War II. After a hugely successful first and second season, the show launched its third season last year, with an expanding cast that included a new male lead (Jason O’Mara) opposite returning leads (Alexa Davalos, Rupert Evans and Rufus Sewell) and William Forsythe as none other than J. Edgar Hoover. Amazon ordered a fourth run of the drama before the third had even aired, with Daniel Percival (Banished) and David Scarpa (All the Money in the World) serving as co-showrunners and Isa Dick Hackett, Philip K. Dick’s daughter, remaining on board as an executive producer.

Now, Amazon has confirmed that Season 4 will be the show’s last, and it took to Comic-Con this weekend to unveil a glimpse of what’s in store, and confirm the final run’s release date.

Hackett has previously said they will “end on something that would be very familiar and I think particularly satisfying for PKD fans”, promising to “really delve into the resistance in a way that we haven’t explored previously”. You can see that in action on 15th November when Season 4 premieres on Amazon Prime Video. To get ready, watch the opening minutes below – with a warning, of course, that it will contain spoilers for Season 3.

 

The Man in the High Castle to end with Season 4

19th February 2019

Amazon’s The Man in the High Castle will end with its fourth season this year.

The sci-fi alt-history series, which is based on Philip K. Dick’s 1962 novel, explores what would have happened if the Allied Powers had lost World War II. After a hugely successful first season, the show launched its third season last year, with an expanding cast that included a new male lead (Jason O’Mara) opposite returning leads (Alexa Davalos, Rupert Evans and Rufus Sewell) and William Forsythe as none other than J. Edgar Hoover. Amazon ordered a fourth run of the drama before the third had even aired, with Daniel Percival (Banished) and David Scarpa (All the Money in the World) serving as co-showrunners and Isa Dick Hackett, Philip K. Dick’s daughter, remaining on board as an executive producer.

“Fake news packs a real punch in the third season of Amazon’s ambitious political sci-fi,” we wrote in our review of Season 3, praising the thriller for expanding to something “dizzyingly huge”.

Now, though, Amazon has confirmed that the show’s upcoming fourth season will be its last, as it teases the end of the series’ parallel worlds, when war and revolution will collide.

“We are incredibly proud of all of the hard work from the massively talented executive producers, cast, crew, and everyone who has worked on The Man in the High Castle over the years,” Amazon Studios boss Jennifer Salke said in a statement.

“With production ongoing on our fourth and final season, we can’t wait for fans to see how this final chapter in the story unfolds. The Man in the High Castle helped define Amazon Prime Video in the genre space, and we are grateful and excited that we’ll continue to be in business with Isa and Electric Shepherd Productions for future Philip K. Dick adaptations.”

Indeed, Amazon and Hackett recently inked a new first look deal for her to develop new series for Amazon Prime Video, as her Electric Shepherd Productions company stewards adaptations of her father’s library of work.

“It has been a great privilege to work alongside our extraordinary High Castle team, in partnership with David Zucker and Scott Free, to bring my father’s classic novel to life, particularly during this tumultuous period in our real world,” said Hackett. “I believe fans will be thrilled and satisfied by the epic conclusion we have in store for them.”

Reflecting on the show’s modern relevance, Hackett told Deadline: “It’s been obviously disturbing to varying degrees for everybody involved with the series that there is a more sort of literal experience that can be drawn from much of what exists in the stories that we told, that we’re telling in the world that, we’re looking at outside of our own window”.

“I think of all times to be dramatizing this novel, there may have been no better than now, this anti-fascist tale, and so I think during this fraught time, I think that it has been not lost on anyone on this show that this is a particularly important time to be, you know, having this discourse about the dangers of fascism,” added Hackett.

Of Season 4, Hackett said they will “end on something that would be very familiar and I think particularly satisfying for PKD fans”.

Zucker noted that the final run will “really delve into the resistance in a way that we haven’t explored previously”.

“This whole central question of free will, as Isa’s referenced of the central anti-fascist premise of the piece, and to what length one will battle to achieve it,” he continued. “What one surrenders by conceding to the larger forces around them. I mean these are the very struggles that we’re experiencing, and so, it is utterly fascinating to be able to explore that as particularly as we have.”

“It’s important to me to leave with more of a sense of hope and inspiration than maybe we even have in the past,” concluded Hackett. “I think in Season 4 that that is something that hopefully people respond really well to.”

It will air on Amazon Prime Video later this year. Here’s a teaser video:

 

The Man in the High Castle casts recurring roles for Season 4

24th November 2018

The Man in the High Castle is wasting no time in lining up its supporting cast for Season 4.

Amazon’s sci-fi alt-history series, which is based on Philip K. Dick’s 1962 novel, explores what would have happened if the Allied Powers had lost World War II. After a hugely successful first season, the show launched its third season this autumn, with an expanding cast that included a new male lead (Jason O’Mara) opposite returning leads (Alexa Davalos, Rupert Evans and Rufus Sewell) and William Forsythe as none other than J. Edgar Hoover. Amazon ordered a fourth run of the drama before the third had even aired, with Daniel Percival (Banished) and David Scarpa (All the Money in the World) serving as co-showrunners. They’ve already started to assemble a cast, with a string of recurring roles now filled.

Bzhaun Rhoden (Van Helsing), Louis Ferreira (Bad Blood) and Peter Shinkoda (Daredevil) have all joined the line-up. Rhoden will play Benjy, a member of the Black Communist Rebellion, Ferreira will play Brad Bellows, the leader of the D.C. Resistance cell, who is suspicious of Juliana Crain, and Shinkoda will play Kazu Suzuki, the distinguished Royal Secretary to the Crown Princess.

David Sakurai, Carter MacIntyre and Bruce Locke have also been cast in supporting roles. MacIntyre will play Juliana’s new friend, Russ Gilmore, and Locke will play new JPS leader Governor General Yamori, who is determined to maintain Japan’s presence in America, even though it brings him into conflict with the Crown Princess. Sakurai will play Colonel Saito, a long-serving Japanese Army officer and Aide da Camp to the General, to whom he is fiercely loyal. When the General is arrested by Kido, Saito takes it on himself to surround Kempeitai HQ and demand his release.

Completing the show’s recent wave of casting is Into the Badlands’ Marc Rissmann, who will play the German-born Obergruppenführer Wilhelm Goertzmann, a formidable new force in the Nazi Reich, who you can bet will ruffle some feathers – including those of Rufus Sewell’s John Smith.

They join new additions to the show Frances Turner (The Gifted), Clé Bennett (Homeland) and Rich Ting (NCIS: Los Angeles), who will all have recurring roles in the fourth run.

 

Frances Turner, Rich Ting, Clé Bennett join The Man in the High Castle Season 4

14th August 2018

Frances Turner, Rich Ting, Clé Bennett have joined the cast of The Man in the High Castle for Season 4.

The sci-fi alt-history series, which is based on Philip K. Dick’s 1962 novel, explores what would have happened if the Allied Powers had lost World War II. After a hugely successful first season, the show is preparing to launch its third season this year, with an expanding cast that includes a new male lead (Jason O’Mara) opposite returning leads (Alexa Davalos, Rupert Evans and Rufus Sewell) and William Forsythe as none other than J. Edgar Hoover.

In a display of confidence in the programme, Amazon has already ordered a fourth season, with Daniel Percival (Banished) and David Scarpa (All the Money in the World) serving as co-showrunners. They are swiftly assembling a cast to populate it. Frances Turner (The Gifted), Clé Bennett (Homeland) and Rich Ting (NCIS: Los Angeles) will all have recurring roles in the fourth run.

Turner will play Bell Mallory, who has escaped from a Nazi concentration camp into the Japanese Pacific States. There, she meets Elijah (Bennett), a militant black nationalist, who will together become members of a guerrilla movement dedicated to the liberation of African-Americans. Ting, meanwhile, will play Captain Iijima, an ambitious young detective in the Kempeitai.

Season 4 will begin production this year, while Season 3 will premiere on Friday 5th October on Amazon Prime Video. Click here to watch a trailer.

 

The Man in the High Castle renewed for Season 4

22nd July 2018

Amazon has renewed The Man in the High Castle for a fourth season.

The sci-fi alt-history series, which is based on Philip K. Dick’s 1962 novel, explores what would have happened if the Allied Powers had lost World War II. Its first season became the most popular original show produced by Amazon Studios, winning over fans with a vision of a world that has only become more complex and more intriguing since. Season 3 shows no signs of changing that, with a rapidly expanding cast that has included a new male lead (Jason O’Mara) opposite our lead characters (Alexa Davalos, Rupert Evans and Rufus Sewell) and William Forsythe as none other than J. Edgar Hoover.

Before that third run has even aired, though, Amazon is already looking to a wider, bigger future, commissioning a fourth season of the epic drama.

It follows the appointment of Bosch veteran Eric Overmyer as showrunner for Season 3, after some shifting roles behind the scenes, while Isa Dick Hackett, Philip K. Dick’s daughter, remains an executive producer key to the show’s continued tone and consistency. Hackett was in attendance at San Diego Comic-Con this weekend to announce the news of the fourth season pick-up, also revealing that Season 3 marks the introduction of new material to the writing table – material from Dick himself, thanks to several chapters from an incomplete sequel to his original book.

After Season 2’s near-apocalyptic finale, what might have changed by the time Season 4 arrives is anybody’s guess. The good news is that we won’t have to wait much longer to find out: Season 3 will premiere on 5th October, Hackett confirmed. You can see the trailer for that here.

 

Dr. Mengele will appear in High Castle Season 3

10th August 2018

The Man in the High Castle Season 3 is drawing nearer, and Amazon’s alt-history drama has added an intriguing new face to its ranks: Nazi scientist Dr. Josef Mengele.

The famous physician, who won a Nobel prize winner, will appear in the third season of the drama, which is based on Philip K Dick’s novel. Exploring what would have happened if the Allied Powers had lost World War II, it’s only natural that some of history’s more well-known figures should appear in the Reich that rules the show’s alternate America.

Taking on the task of playing Mengele will be John Hans Tester. He has been seen in everything from Royal Pains, The Americans and True Blood to Castle, The Informant and Argo.

He will have a recurring role in the new season, which raises intriguing questions about where the show’s narrative will take us next.

 

Laura Mennell and Eijiro Ozaki join High Castle Season 3

3rd July 2017

Laura Mennell and Eijiro Ozaki have joined the third season of The Man in the High Castle.

Amazon’s series, which is based on Philip K. Dick’s 1962 novel, explores what would have happened if the Allied Powers had lost World War II. Its first season became the most popular original show produced by Amazon Studios, winning over fans with a vision of a world that has only become more complex and more intriguing since. Season 3 shows no signs of changing that, with a rapidly expanding cast that has included a new male lead (Jason O’Mara) opposite our lead characters (Alexa Davalos, Rupert Evans and Rufus Sewell) and William Forsythe as none other than J. Edgar Hoover.

Now, two more faces have signed up: Alphas’ Laura Mennell and Little Boy’s Eijiro Ozaki. Both will have recurring roles, reports , with Mennell to play Hedd Parsons a New York gossip columnist described as “queen of the NY Nazi Reich social scene” and Ozaki to play Admiral Inokuchi, a cool, calm, rational Japanese officer.

Mennell will also be recognisable to viewers of the rebooted Van Helsing TV series, which arrived on Netflix UK last year, while Ozaki has been in everything from Heroes Reborn and Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. to Extant.

 

Jason O’Mara joins High Castle Season 3

15th June 2017

Jason O’Mara has joined The Man in the High Castle for Season 3.

The actor, who will be familiar to US audiences from Life on Mars and Terra Nova, and to UK audiences from Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., has signed on to Amazon’s now flagship original drama, which is based on Philip K. Dick’s story about an alternate America, where Nazi Germany and Imperial Japan won World War II.

O’Mara will be a series regular in the show’s latest run, as Wyatt Pearce, a new male lead opposite Alexa Davalos, Rupert Evans and Rufus Sewell. “Fleeing the war in Europe, Price’s family immigrated to New York from Ireland as refugees, then fled west again ahead of the Nazi invasion,” explains a description provided to Deadline. “Like most in the Neutral Zone, he’s learned to survive as a hustler, trading in various black market goods and services. But he’s more than just a survivor – he believes in what America was and what the Neutral Zone still is – a melting pot worth saving.”

 

William Forsythe To Play J. Edgar Hoover in Amazon’s High Castle

21st May 2017

William Forsythe has signed on to play J. Edgar Hoover in The Man in the High Castle.

Amazon’s series, which is based on Philip K. Dick’s 1962 novel, explores what would have happened if the Allied Powers had lost World War II. While Germany controls much of the East Coast and Japan controls the West Coast, the Rocky Mountains have become a “neutral zone”—and ground zero for a resistance, led by a mysterious figure known only as The Man in the High Castle. While some citizens struggle against the fear, oppression and inequality, others accept their lives, as compromised and unfulfilling as they might be. But after a series of enigmatic films surface depicting a world vastly different from their own, some begin to question the very nature of their reality.

It’s a fascinatingly intricate portrayal of identity, both national and individual, and an increasingly complex political drama, which took several twists and turns in Season 2 to become more surprising and more relevant to the modern day. The casting of J. Edgar Hoover in Season 3, then, is a promising sign that Amazon’s drama shows no sign of slowing down.

Forsythe, whom Boardwalk Empire fans will recognise as Manny Horvitz, is no stranger to complex webs of corruption, deceit and power, appearing in other series such as Chicago Justice, Daredevil and Justified. He will play the controversial first Director of the FBI in Season 3, which will have a new showrunner in the form of Bosch’s Eric Overmyer, who will exec produce alongside Ridley Scott, David W. Zucker, Richard Heus, Isa Dick Hackett and Daniel Percival.

Forsythe joins a cast that includes Michael Gaston, Rupert Evans, Rufus Sewell, Cary-Hiroyuki Tagawa, Alexa Davalos, Luke Kleintank, Joel De La Fuente, Brennan Brown, and Bella Heathcote.

 

Michael Gaston promoted to series regular for High Castle Season 3

3rd March 2017

While the BBC airs its own alt-history Nazi drama, SS-GB, work is already underway on the third season of Amazon’s The Man in the High Castle.

The show explores what American would be like if we lost WWII, with the Reich and Imperial Japan sharing rulership of the United States. The show doubled down on its eerily convincing world-building in Season 2, developing Rufus Sewell’s Nazi officer John Smith and Luke Kleintank’s Joe, torn between the resistance and the Germans. While we spent more time on the German side of the fence, though, Season 3 looks set to grow Frank’s (Rupert Evans) side of the storyline in the Japan-occupied half of the country.

To help with that, Amazon has bumped up one of its background characters from a recurring star to a series regular for Season 3. The star in question is Michael Gaston, who plays Mark Sampson, the guy who lives above his hardware shop and who once helped Frank connect with his spiritual roots, following the death of his sister, Laura. He’s also a leader of San Francisco’s small, discreet Jewish community.

Season 3 of The Man in the High Castle was announced at the start of the year, only a few weeks after Season 2’s premiere. It will have a new showrunner in the form of Eric Overmyer, who will exec produce alongside Ridley Scott, David W. Zucker, Richard Heus, Isa Dick Hackett and Daniel Percival.

“This is brilliant, moving, thought-provoking and timely television,” we wrote in our review of Season 2. You can read that here.
 

Amazon renews The Man in the High Castle for Season 3

3rd January 2017

Amazon has greenlit a third season of The Man in the High Castle.

Based on Philip K. Dick’s Hugo Award-winning 1962 alternate history novel, the show explores what would have happened if the Allied Powers had lost World War II. While Germany controls much of the East Coast and Japan controls the West Coast, the Rocky Mountains have become a “neutral zone”—and ground zero for a resistance, led by a mysterious figure known only as The Man in the High Castle. While some citizens struggle against the fear, oppression and inequality, others accept their lives, as compromised and unfulfilling as they might be. But after a series of enigmatic films surface depicting a world vastly different from their own, some begin to question the very nature of their reality.

The show was Amazon’s most-watched original drama when it premiered last year and Season 2 has once again proven a huge hit. Following the debut of the second season, the series became the most-watched Amazon original drama of the year, with Season 2 picking up an average customer rating of 4.6 stars.

“This is brilliant, moving, thought-provoking and timely television,” we wrote in our review of Season 2. The show was VODzilla.co’s number three TV show of 2016, behind only Westworld and Stranger Things.

Eric Overmyer (who adapted Bosch for Amazon’s series) will serve as showrunner and executive producer for this new season. The series was developed by Frank Spotnitz (The X-Files), who stepped down as showrunner during Season 2’s production. Ridley Scott (The Martian), David W. Zucker (The Good Wife), Richard Heus (Ugly Betty), Isa Dick Hackett (The Adjustment Bureau), and Daniel Percival (Banished) will serve as executive producers for Season Three.

“As timely as ever, the exploration of characters at a dark point for humanity has provided incredible stories for two seasons,” says Joe Lewis, Head of Comedy and Drama, Amazon Studios.

“Eric and his team are doing an incredible job crafting stories about the inner lives of those who struggle to do good in a world that is not. We couldn’t be more excited to bring Season 3 to customers in 2017.”

The first two seasons of The Man in the High Castle are now available on Amazon Prime Video, as part of a £5.99 monthly subscription. Catch up with our reviews here – or hit the button below to get watching.

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