This 95% Rotten Tomatoes Rated Dystopian Series Stephen King Called “Jaw-Dropping” Still Hits Harder Than Most Today

If you’re making a movie or TV show, you’d better bring your A-game if you want to impress Stephen King. The Master of Horror often tends to be fairly opinionated, especially when it comes to adaptations of his work; he had nothing but praise for The Man in the High Castle, which premiered back in 2015. “THE MAN IN THE HIGH CASTLE (Amazon Prime) is just wonderful,” King wrote on Twitter in 2018. “Some of the images, while disquieting (American children giving the Nazi salute, a Nazi storm trooper replacing the Statue of Liberty), are jaw-dropping. Start from the beginning.” The reason for this disturbing imagery is largely a result of The Man in the High Castle‘s premise, which is adapted from the Phillip K. Dick novel of the same name: in a different timeline, Axis forces emerge victories during World War II and conquer the world. It’s a series that also remains disturbingly timely years after its premiere.

What Is ‘The Man in the High Castle’ About?

The Man in the High Castle throws down the gauntlet in its very first episode, which opens with a young man going to a 1960s-style theater, where an ad about the “New World” is playing. That ad ends with a shot of the American flag, but instead of the 50 states, there’s a swastika, topped off with the announcer saying, “Sieg Heil.” This is the first instance of how normalized Nazi tendencies have become; the United States is under Axis control, with the Japanese renaming the Northwest states the “Pacific States of Japan,” while the rest of America is under the “Greater Reich.” In the latter, eugenics has become a way of life, with anyone of a different race or not at peak mental or physical health being euthanized. It’s a chilling depiction of the world, and in a time when efforts to pursue science and health in the United States are under attack, The Man in the High Castle resonates far more deeply than expected when revisiting it today. One of the show’s main characters, John Smith (Rufus Sewell), is even a high-ranking Nazi officer who is dedicated to enforcing the Greater Reich’s rules by any means necessary — even if it splinters his family in the process.

With the show being a Phillip K. Dick adaptation, science fiction elements start to work their way into The Man in the High Castle‘s narrative. When protagonist Juliana Crain (Alexa Davalos) discovers a film that depicts the Allied powers winning World War II, it leads to the discovery of an alternate reality that follows what really happened in history. It’s a major twist that offers a unique approach to the multiverse theory: what happens when the world you know is a lie? Would you fight to bring that reality to life, or fight to keep the world the way it is? The characters’ reactions are what make The Man in the High Castle worth watching — while Smith sinks deeper and deeper into fascism, Juliana struggles to free the world from the Nazi powers. It’s a conflict that once again has roots in real life, not to mention its relevancy in recent years.

‘The Man in the High Castle’ Put Prime Video on the Map

While Prime Video might be a prominent streaming service, it took a while for it to become popular. The Man in the High Castle was a large part of establishing that popularity, as it became one of the platform’s breakout shows. When the first episode aired in January 2015, it was the most popular pilot that Amazon had aired up to that point. The reviews were also glowing, as critics praised its approach to adapting Dick’s novel, and its first season earned a 95% Certified Fresh rating on Rotten Tomatoes. Throughout The Man in the High Castle‘s run, those high ratings continued.

The series didn’t air without some bumps in the road, though. To promote Season 1, Prime Video wrapped a train car in fictional propaganda meant to represent the Greater Reich and the Pacific States of Japan. To say this was controversial was an understatement, as the ad drew enough ire to be finally retracted by Amazon. Each season of The Man in the High Castle also featured a different showrunner, which might have been one of the biggest instances of creative turnover in a TV series. Still, its success would pave the way for other Prime Video dramas like The Boys and Reacher to take off.

‘The Man in the High Castle’s Enduring Power Proves Phillip K. Dick’s Stories Work on TV

Before The Man in the High Castle, the works of Phillip K. Dick had mostly been adapted into films — but while films like Blade Runner and Minority Report are well-crafted, entertaining adaptations, this Prime Video series proves that Dick’s works can work just as well on TV. The streamer did make another Dick adaptation in 2017 with Electric Dreams, which adapted more of the author’s short stories. Unlike The Man in the High Castle, it only lasted a single season, but the enduring success of this series proves that Dick’s work remains a well that’s ripe for adaptation. It also serves as a warning about the dangers of authoritarianism, one that continues to be worth heeding.

The Man in the High Castle is available to stream on Prime Video.