Todd Spangler / Variety
The American fight against Nazi oppression will continue with “The Man in the High Castle” season three, which has been greenlit by Amazon Studios for release in 2017.
Eric Overmyer (“Treme,” “The Affair,” “Bosch”) will serve as showrunner and executive producer for the next season of the alternate-history thriller, set in an America after Germany and Japan have won World War II. He takes over for Frank Spotnitz, who developed the series based on Philip K. Dick’s novel and exited as showrunner in the midst of season two production.
The first two seasons of the one-hour drama series are currently available exclusively on Amazon Prime Video worldwide. Season two of “The Man in the High Castle,” which premiered Dec. 16, 2016, registered the most viewers over its debut weekend of all scripted Amazon originals to date, according to the company — after the freshman season previously set the record a year earlier.
“Man in the High Castle” stars Alexa Davalos (“Mob City”), Rupert Evans (“American Pastoral”), Luke Kleintank (“Pretty Little Liars”), DJ Qualls (“Z Nation”), Joel De La Fuente (“Hemlock Grove”), Brennan Brown (“Focus”), Bella Heathcote (“The Neon Demon”) and Callum Keith Rennie (“Longmire”), along with Cary-Hiroyuki Tagawa (“Revenge”) and Rufus Sewell (“Victoria”).
The series was developed by Spotnitz (“The X-Files”), who will serve as executive producer of season three with Ridley Scott (“The Martian”), David W. Zucker (“The Good Wife”), Richard Heus (“Ugly Betty”), Isa Dick Hackett (“The Adjustment Bureau”) and Daniel Percival (“Banished”).
In “The Man in the High Castle,” based on Dick’s 1962 novel of the same name, Germany controls much of the former United States’ East Coast and Japan rules over the West Coast. The Rocky Mountains have become a neutral zone — and ground zero for the American resistance, led by a mysterious figure known only as the Man in the High Castle.
“As timely as ever, the exploration of characters at a dark point for humanity has provided incredible stories for two seasons,” Joe Lewis, Amazon Studios head of comedy and drama, said in a statement. “Eric and his team are doing an incredible job crafting stories about the inner lives of those who struggle to do good in a world that is not.”
Overmyer’s writing and producing credits include “St. Elsewhere,” “The Days and Nights of Molly Dodd,” “Homicide: Life on the Street,” “Law & Order,” “The Wire,” “New Amsterdam” and “Treme,” which he co-created with David Simon. Overmyer also adapted Amazon Studios’ original drama series “Bosch,” recently greenlit for a fourth season, based on Michael Connelly’s novels about an LAPD detective.
Pictured above: Rufus Sewell as Obergruppenfuhrer John Smith in season two of “The Man in the High Castle.”