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"The Man in the High Castle" creates a world almost unimaginable to American viewers — a United States that has been defeated by Nazi Germany and Imperial Japan. An America that is prostrate. Ruled by foreign powers. Divided.
In this 10-part series based on Philip K. Dick's novel, it's 1962 — 15 years after the Nazis dropped an atomic bomb on Washington, D.C., and the United States surrendered.
The country has been partitioned. East of the Rocky Mountains is part of the Greater German Reich. West of the Rockies are the Japanese Pacific States.
The Rockies are sort of a no man's land/neutral zone between the two former allies who are now superpowers on opposite sides of a cold war.
It's not just startling to see Times Square with a huge swastika in neon lights, it's shocking to see seemingly all-American households where the dad puts on black boots and an SS uniform and the teenage son is a member of Hitler Youth.
DJ Qualls, who stars as American Ed McCarthy, recalled that, while filming the pilot, passers-by were taken aback.
"We were in downtown Seattle, and we had 150 extras in period costumes," he said. "And there was a little Nazi memorabilia around. Even though they knew that we were shooting something, it was still completely jarring. We could see on their faces how jarring it was to them."
The narrative focuses on Juliana Crane (Alexa Davalos), a young woman living in Japanese-ruled San Francisco whose sister is a member of the resistance. Juliana comes into possession of a film meant for her sister — a film showing a world where the Allies won WWII, which is tied to the enigmatic Man in the High Castle.
Juliana heads for the Rockies to fulfill her sister's mission, leaving her Jewish boyfriend, Frank Frink (Rupert Evans), behind to deal with Inspector Kido (Joel de la Fuente), the ruthless head of the local secret police.
Meanwhile, Joe Blake (Luke Kleintank), a young truck driver, is on a secret mission of his own to that same area. And Obergruppenführer John Smith (Rufus Sewell) is trying to stamp out the resistance in New York.
These stories play out as Hitler is dying and World War III might be in the offing. The Führer's successors aren't above using nuclear weapons on American soil to take what they don't already control.
"The Man in the High Castle" ranges from disquieting to terrifying. And Amazon has spent a fortune creating an alternate world.
"This is a world where Elvis didn't happen," Evans said. "So if Elvis didn't happen, the Beatles didn't happen. But yet certain things did happen, which we took from our world."
What they've created includes music, fashion and attitude.
"We are deferential to the Japanese," Qualls said. "It's like your whole being, your physicality, changes."
"It was really interesting talking about and understanding how you operate as a sort of underclass in your own country," Evans said.
Executive producer Frank Spotnitz ("The X-Files," "Millennium," "The Lone Gunmen") said the "biggest challenge" was creating the visuals that show a world much like our own in 1962 — but not altogether the same.
"We knew from the pilot on we were establishing the rules of this world and we needed to honor them however many years this show went forward," Spotnitz said.
If you've read the book, you will see myriad changes. After nearly a decade in development — everywhere from the BBC to the Syfy Channel — the project finally got the go-ahead from Amazon Prime. And got a bigger commitment than the producers anticipated — instead of 4 hours and an ending, Season 1 is 10 hours and open-ended.
(The 10 episodes begin streaming to Amazon Prime subscribers Friday.)
There's that much more opportunity to create a world that's shocking to the American sensibility.
"I really hope it has some impact," Spotnitz said. "I really hope it makes people think — what do you stand for? What are your values? How do you differ from the people you see in this show?
"And I think that's what's unique about doing an alternative-history show."
Spotnitz said that when he first read the novel he was "struck" by the fact that "you can't assume the good guys are going to win. And I think we as Americans, because we are used to winning and because all of our movies and TV shows have us winning, we just have this [attitude], 'Of course we are going to win.'
"Well, no, not of course. It's up to us if we are going to win. And I hope this show makes people think about that."
Twitter: @ScottDPierce —
On Amazon Prime
All 10 first-season episodes of "The Man in the High Castle" begin streaming Friday, Nov. 20, on the subscription service Amazon Prime.