David Farnor | On 22, Dec 2015

The Man in the High Castle is now the most-watched Amazon original show to date.

The series, based on Philip K. Dick’s novel, has wowed audiences and critics alike, telling the story of an alternate history where World War II was won by the Axis powers and America is now ruled by Imperial Japan and the Nazis.

That unique hook, not to mention the talent involved – including Rufus Sewell (our interview with whom you can read here) as a Nazi officer and producer Ridley Scott – have helped the show to become the most popular Amazon Studios production so far, as well as the most ambitious. (Amazon’s controversial marketing tactics, which saw a New York subway carriage plastered in Nazi and Imperial Japanese regalia, alarming passengers and generating column inches in the media, may have helped too.)

The announcement follows the show’s renewal by Amazon for a second season, as well as the arrival of Season 2 of Transparent, Amazon’s Golden Globe-winning show, which, surprisingly, isn’t the most popular by default. Indeed, High Castle replaces a different drama series in Amazon’s number one spot: Bosch.

The detective show, based on Michael Connelly’s bestselling novels, enjoyed the biggest debut weekend of Amazon’s original series last year. It, too, has been renewed for a second run, which will be based on the books Trunk Music and The Drop and will premiere in 2016.

“They weren’t worried about ratings – although I’m sure they are a bit more than they say – but they wanted it to be different,” Rufus Sewell told us in our interview about The Man in High Castle. “They wanted it to be the kind of thing that no one else would dare touch. They wanted to make a splash in that way.”

“We’re very proud of this outstanding series created by Frank Spotnitz, Scott Free and Isa Dick Hackett,” comments Roy Price, Vice President of Amazon Studios. “We hoped that once again bringing together the work of Philip K. Dick and the vision of Ridley Scott – who brought us the classic film Blade Runner – would help deliver on our promise of creating some of the best television in the world for Prime customers, and we believe that it has.”

You can read our spoiler-free review of Episodes 1 and 2 here – or our review of Episodes 3 to 6 here.

 

The Man in the High Castle is available to watch exclusively on Amazon Prime Video, as part of a £5.99 monthly subscription – or, if you want next-day delivery on Amazon orders as well, a full £79 annual Amazon Prime membership.

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