Man In The High Castle Season 4 Will Be The Last
All horrifying alternate realities must come to an end.
Amazon has announced that the upcoming fourth season of Man in the High Castle, the alt-history series based upon the 1962 Philip K. Dick novel of the same name, will be the final one. Deadline was first with the news.
Debuting on the streamer in 2015, Man in the High Castle follows a growing resistance inside North America in an alternate history in which the Axis powers emerged victorious from World War II. With the entire continent divided up between Imperial Japan (who administer the "Japanese Pacific States") and the Third Reich (which controls the American Reich or simply "Nazi America"), the freedom fighters' cause is encouraged by the existence of mysterious films which appear to offer proof of an alternate timeline in which events played out more closely to those of our own.
Dick's novel was an early success for the author, helping to lead off a bibliography which would see a goodly number of its works adapted for the screen. Many of his novels explore social themes through the use of relatively hard science fiction concepts, with perhaps his most influential work — the 1968 novel Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? — serving as the basis for director Ridley Scott's 1982 dystopian sci-fi masterpiece Blade Runner. Other Dick novels to receive direct adaptations include The Adjustment Bureau (adapted in 2011), A Scanner Darkly (2006), and Minority Report (2002).
The Man in the High Castle has been a resounding critical and audience success for Amazon, helping the streamer shoulder its way into a marketplace dominated by Netflix and, to a lesser extent, Hulu. Amazon Studios head honcho Jennifer Salke acknowledged the importance of the Emmy-nominated series to Amazon's growing stature in the streaming marketplace in a statement. "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. 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," she said. "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... for future Philip K. Dick adaptations."
About that: just because High Castle is ending doesn't mean that Amazon doesn't know a gold mine when they see it. Isa Dick Hackett, the daughter of the man himself, served as an executive producer on the series as well as Amazon's 2017 anthology Philip K. Dick's Electric Dreams. After the success of those two outings, the streamer partnered up with Hackett and her production house (also called Electric Dreams) for an extensive first-look deal (via Variety) to adapt more Dick properties in the future. While the imprint is said to have several projects in development for various media, nothing has been officially announced thus far.
Hackett also released a statement in which she appeared pumped to send the series off on a high note. "It has been a great privilege to work alongside our extraordinary High Castle team, in partnership with [executive producer] David Zucker and Scott Free, to bring my father's classic novel to life, particularly during this tumultuous period in our real world," she said. "I believe fans will be thrilled and satisfied by the epic conclusion we have in store for them."
All of those lovely words having been said, Hackett and Zucker refused to put the final nail in the coffin of Man in the High Castle during an extended conversation about the series' cancellation with Deadline. "I think that... when all is said and done that people [will] feel, touched, inspired, challenged by [the series' conclusion]," said Zucker. "But, you know, addendum to that, I think Isa and I both feel that there is a lot more story to tell in this kind of world." Prompted to elaborate, the producer said, "While we're bringing this chapter to a conclusion, if one thinks beyond the final frames of this series, it is very provocative to think about what stories may come thereafter. Whether or not we all get to tell them or they get told in another incarnation in film and television, that's for us to all see. However, I don't think you can look at this as an absolute culmination."
Very interesting, indeed. We'll just have to chew on those words for awhile until it becomes apparent what, if anything specifically, Zucker might have been referring to. In the meantime, you can check out a teaser trailer for the final season above, and an ominous new poster below. The Man in the High Castle season 4 is expected to debut on Amazon Prime sometime later this year.
