"The Man in the High Castle," Amazon Prime's show about an alternate universe where the Axis Powers won over the Allied forces in World War II, left fans and critics wanting for more at the end of its first season. Viewers are anxiously waiting for word if the show will be renewed for a second season.
Amazon Adviseris banking on a renewal based not just on audience response but the investment that Amazon Prime Video has made in the controversial series. Based on the famous novel of the late sci-fi great Philip K. Dick, "The Man in the High Castle" features a United States of the 1960s but one that is run by the Nazis. In this universe's World War II, Germany and Japan beat the U.S. and their allies with the creation of the atomic bomb. Instead of Japan surrendering to the U.S. after an American plane drops the first nuclear bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, it's the Fuhrer's force instead who launched a devastating nuclear attack on Washington D.C.
Twenty years later, in 1962, a new generation of Americans who had grown up under Hitler's watchful eye had adjusted to their colonized status, with barely a memory of the democratic country that their parents had fought futilely to preserve. Everyone says 'Heil Hitler' as a daily greeting. The Jews have been exterminated. The African-Americans were exiled to a neutral zone. Lady employees are expected to give "personal services" to their Japanese bosses.
It is a lot to take in, and yet AV Club believes that the show's first season did not push the envelope enough. Near its end, "The Man in the High Castle" had almost devolved into a usual spy melodrama with the bad guys chasing the good guys who possessed a secret film which could possibly deal the new Evil Empire with a fatal blow.
If renewed, "The Man in the High Castle" season two should let its characters dig deeper into the backstory of this strange new world. Modern viewers would get hooked trying to discover more of the timeline change and how it will impact the future.
In an interview with OC Weekly, producer Frank Spotniz says he would love to be given the chance: "Plotwise, this is an enormous series. It has almost limitless potential, because you've got the whole world to tell stories ... I do know how it ends. I just don't know when."
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