A Beloved Philip K. Dick TV Series Has Found A New Streaming Home On Netflix

When Sinclair Lewis' novel "It Can't Happen Here" was published in 1935, American readers largely viewed it as a cautionary tale inspired by the ruthless rise of left-wing Louisiana politician Huey Long, especially since he was assassinated one month prior to the book's release. The U.S. Senator was a populist who believed in wealth redistribution via an aggressive wealth tax, which sounds great until you realize he engaged in flagrant corruption himself to further his agenda and line his own pockets.

Long was certainly on Lewis' mind when he wrote the tale of Senator Buzz Windrip defeating Franklin D. Roosevelt in the 1936 presidential election, enacting a corporatist regime and consigning dissidents, minorities, and women to concentration camps. It's a fascist nightmare that presciently anticipated the authoritarian rule of Adolf Hitler in Germany (and inspired the sci-fi TV classic "V")!

While the Allied powers defeated Hitler and the Axis powers, writers of all stripes have remained on guard for a resurgence of fascism, particularly in countries beset with economic hardship (where aspiring dictators/monsters feign populism as a means of implementing their despotic desires). Post Lewis, many notable projects have confronted the threat of fascism (director Paul Verhoeven's "Starship Troopers" being a prime example), but few have envisioned a more believably terrifying scenario than Philip K. Dick with "The Man in the High Castle."

Dick's 1962 novel lays out an alternate history where the Axis powers defeated the Allies by nuking Washington D.C. Both Germany and Japan occupy the United States, with Germany claiming everything east of the Rocky Mountains and Japan taking everything to the west. Understanding the book's potential and increasing relevance, producer Ridley Scott and creator Frank Spotnitz delivered a critically acclaimed four-season adaptation for Prime Video. It's now streaming on Netflix, and it's more chilling than ever.

"The Man in the High Castle" premiered on January 15, 2015, six months prior to Donald Trump announcing his run for President of the United States. While no one took the real estate developer seriously at the time, this didn't make Frank Spotnitz's show less disturbing. The series features a massive ensemble cast headed by Alexa Davalos and Rupert Evans, who play a pair of San Franciscans making a decent living in the Japanese occupied territory. The U.S. Resistance is confined to the Rocky Mountain States and is continually at risk of being infiltrated by spies from either side of the country. (Germany and Japan maintain an uneasy, Cold War peace.)

This being a Philip K. Dick adaptation, you can expect things to get a little weird, and, sure enough, the titular character possesses newsreels of alternate realities wherein the war shook out differently. These realities do not remain separate, and while I wouldn't dare spoil the series for you, they impact the timeline inhabited by the characters in Spotnitz's narrative.

"The Man in the High Castle" has an 84% Fresh critical rating at Rotten Tomatoes, with most critics agreeing the second season is its weakest. The final season, however, is 92% Fresh, so it's well worth sticking through the rough patch to reach the stunning conclusion (and even the down season is gripping stuff). The only downside to watching the series now is that, in a broad sense, in the view of some historians and political observers, it mirrors the rise of fascism under President Trump, which may not be what you want from your entertainment at the moment. Just know that it's a great show if you can stomach it when, it appears, it really is happening here.