History Series / TheManInTheHighCastle

''The Man in the High Castle'' is an AlternateHistory series produced by Creator/RidleyScott, created by Frank Spotnitz and based on [[Literature/TheManInTheHighCastle the novel of the same name]] by Creator/PhilipKDick. It debuted in 2015 and aired four seasons via Amazon Prime.

''The Man in the High Castle'' is an AlternateHistory series produced by Creator/RidleyScott, created by Frank Spotnitz and based on [[Literature/TheManInTheHighCastle the book of the same name]] by Creator/PhilipKDick. It debuted in 2015 and aired four seasons via Amazon Prime.

* AdaptationExpansion: In multiple ways. Some book characters are heavily modified, their family members are introduced, and there are many wholly new characters. The plot is also greatly expanded, with much more of it taking place in the Nazi-controlled portion of the former US.

* GoodGunsBadGuns: Played with. The World War II era weapons of the Germans and Japanese are still around and in the hands of their respective country's soldiers, but they are slowly being replaced by more modern weapons, leading to guns like the [=MP5=] - usually seen by Western audiences in the hands of traditionally good guy SWAT teams and elite units - becoming the weapon of choice for the Nazis. American World War II weapons like the Thompson, 1911, and M1 carbine are seen in the hands of resistance fighters, though by Season 4, these are likewise being supplanted, this time by Communist Bloc weapons like the AK-47 in another role reversal. Weapons like M2 machine guns and Winchester shotguns are seen in use by all sides, though whether this is a case of them being pressed into service by the Axis powers or their being WeaponsUnderstudies for fictional guns the Germans and Japanese developed in this timeline is unclear. Lastly, revolvers and lever action weapons seem to be favored in the Neutral Zone, adding to its Wild West-like atmosphere.

* DistractedByTheSexy: In Season 3's "The New Colosseus", Rockwell spends his time in Cuban exile courting a [[BellyDancer dancer]] and her male partner after a show. Rockwell gets immersed in the performers and is real close to having a fun night [[spoiler:right before he gets stabbed through the back by an assassin hired by Smith]].

* CoolGuns: Multiple varieties show up. The resistance mainly uses Thompsons and Colt 1911's, with some old-school .38 wheelguns for good measure. The Marshal has a sawed-off Winchester 1887 lever action shotgun. GNR Nazis use Mauser [=Kar98K=] bolt-action rifles and MP-40 [=SMGs=], likely hand-me-downs from the Wehrmacht, who are seen to be replacing their WWII-era inventory with HK G-3 automatic rifles and MP-5 [=SMGs=]. The Japanese use Nambu pistols, with Arisaka Type-38 and -99 bolt-action rifles equipping their rank-and-file soldiers. They have just adopted the Howa Type-64 automatic rifle, but it's so new that only elite units like the Imperial Guard have them yet. The new guns are all at least slightly anachronistic, but it's excusable in the alternate timeline, in which they could have been developed earlier. [[spoiler:The assassin who shot the Japanese Crown Prince]] uses an even more unlikely Dragunov SVD rifle. In Season 2, Gary Connell favors a Browning [=HiPower=], which fits perfectly because it was manufactured before WWII in both Belgium and Canada, and after they captured Herstal, the Nazis had FN continue production of the "Pistole 1935" for issue to the ''Wehrmacht'' and ''Luftwaffe''. Walther PPK pistols also pop up here and there. Guns (and their value and cachet) are a DiscussedTrope since multiple characters are interested in acquiring and selling them: Childan deals in authentic antique weapons while Frank works at a foundry that churns out reproductions. A wide variety of Kalashnikovs, PPS-43 sub-machine guns and various Soviet pistols finally make their debut in Season 4, with the implication that China are now the main suppliers of Russian firearms in that timeline.

** An assassination attempt orchestrated by Reinhard Heydrich is made against John Smith, in which several gunmen attack his car with machine guns and explosives. This is very similar to how Heydrich himself was historically killed in the famous Operation Anthropoid in Prague, right down to Smith getting out of the car to confront his attackers in a gunfight. In the show's timeline, however, Smith survives.

** Hermann Göring is said to have been executed for treason some time before the events of the series after he attempted to gain power as acting chancellor during a period when Adolf Hitler was seriously ill. Göring, who had been Hitler's chosen successor for much of the war, did a similar "power grab" in real life when Hitler was confined to the Führerbunker in the last days of World War 2.
** At the end of season 2, Hitler is assassinated and succeeded by another high-ranking Nazi, before this conspiracy is outed by Heinrich Himmler based on intelligence he received from John Smith. In a speech to the German people, he notably decries their lack of loyalty to their now-dead Fuehrer. Historically, Himmler attempted to throw Hitler under the bus when he tried to make a separate deal with the Allies through backwater diplomatic channels.

** In one of John Smith's flashbacks, shortly after the end of the war, he is visited by his direct superior, who tells him that the US Army is being absorbed into the Reich forces. He mentions that Hermann Goering shook hands with a surrendering General Patton at West Point to seal the deal. This is referencing Goering's own surrender to the Allied forces, which caused a scandal when US officers treated him ''too'' kindly by shaking his hand and drinking with him, implying that he was a WorthyOpponent instead of a war criminal.

* BrickJoke: After Abendsen is captured and forced to make propaganda videos for the Nazis, Juliana becomes convinced he's hiding secret messages in his narration, specifically that Reichsmarshall Smith travels to the portal site by train. Wyatt and the other resistance members think she's grasping at straws... but Smith is later shown on a train, bound for the portal's location. [[spoiler:The Resitance ultimately use this knowledge to ambuh the train and assassinate Smith.]]

** It is revealed that in this timeline Reichsmarshall Herman Goering and his family were executed on Hitler's orders because Goering tried to usurp power from his boss after he fell into a brief coma several years prior to 1962. This [[AllohistoricalAllusion mirrors]] Goering's similar real life attempt at a coup when the Third Reich collapsed in 1945.

[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/high_castle.jpg]]

* TheCoup: Near the end of season 4, [[spoiler:John Smith, realizing that he is about to be removed from his position as Reichsmarshall and likely eliminated for his faltering loyalty, stages a coup against Himmler and his Berlin inner circle in alliance with an ambitious German general, creating two Nazi empires in America and Europe]].

** John Smith is an agent of the Nazi Reich, but a lot of his conflict centers on struggling to hold his family together, which puts him at odds with the Reich. We are frequently reminded that he would have been a much different person had the war gone differently. Season 2 reveals that [[spoiler:he was an American soldier in the war]]. In Season 3, he watches a home movie from an alternate dimension showing him as a happy, unassuming, non-bigoted father. We're frequently called upon to sympathize with him in spite of the monstrous things he does to the resistance.
*** [[spoiler:He eventually [[JumpingOffTheSlipperySlope embraces full-on megalomania]] in Season 4 after gaining too much power... but only after calling Himmler out for being an even worse monster than him, followed by [[KarmicDeath gassing him]] and putting a saner Fürher in charge.]]

** Speaking of the SS, they're shown wearing [[DarkIsEvil all-black uniforms]] even in 1962. This is the "Black Ensemble" uniform, which started to get phased out in favor of more BoringButPractical "earth-grey" tunic uniforms. This is because ''Feldgrau'' was exclusively used in the field and the Nazi regime spent the last five years on a continuous war-footing.

* BrickJoke: After Abendsen is captured and forced to make propaganda videos for the Nazis, Juliana becomes convinced he's hiding secret messages in his narration, specifically that Reichsmarshall Smith travels to the portal site by train. Wyatt and the other resistance members think she's grasping at straws... but Smith is later shown on a train, bound for the portal's location.