Amazon delighted and terrified audiences with the first season of The Man in the High Castle, based on the novel by Philip K. Dick. For those just tuning in, the series is based on an alternate reality where the Axis powers won World War II and follows the journey of certain individuals living within the confines of a foreign-to-us universe.
At New York Comic Con, a few of the cast members and executive producer David Zucker sat down with us and gave us a look into the second season of the show.
Brennan Brown (Robert Childan) had a chance to get his convention feet under him and talked openly about what we can expect from Childan in the upcoming season. Though Childan was a relatively minor character in the first season, it appears he is going to be taking on a bigger role as he becomes more involved with Frank. Brown indicated that the new season would give way to new relationships, and those new dynamics will explore different facets of the character.
We were also reminded that the first season of the show only covered a two week period of time. A lot of the character reactions were knee-jerk, and adaptive to their rapidly changing lives and understanding of the world they live in. No one has had time to really sit down and deeply consider what they’re doing, not even Childan, as most are trying to keep their head above water and function in an unstable environment.
Rufus Sewell, who portrays the intimidating Obergruppenführer John Smith, discussed the shades of grey that are prominent in the show. Obergruppenführer is probably one of the most morally grey characters in the entire series as he is constantly trying to figure out how to protect himself and his family, while still managing to survive and operate successfully within his environment. In a later interview with Alexa Davalos, she said that the main theme of the second season is “survival,” and it describes John Smith’s journey and motivation too.
Speaking of Alexa Davalos, she and DJ Qualls rounded out our NYCC The Man in the High Castle interviews and spoke to the development of their characters into season two. Both characters had to make difficult choices, Juliana to turn herself over to the Reich, and Ed getting picked up by Kido for a crime he didn’t commit.
As shown in the teaser trailer during the panel, Juliana fled to the East Coast and Davalos pointed out that though John Smith accepts the defection it is important that the audience keep an eye on him as he is an expert chess player always looking for pawns.
Perhaps one of the most interesting questions for the actors was regarding their thoughts on where their character would be if history had progressed as we knew it to. DJ Qualls admitted he had thought about it, and in a way believed that Ed may have ended up a wealthy babyboomer who “thinks they own the world,” since he originally came from money and would have maintained that status. Davalos pointed out that she believed Juliana probably would have been a typical, simple girl.
All in all, between the panel and the interviews, fans have a lot to look forward to when The Man in the High Castle returns. Everyone has a challenge set in front of them as they come out of the initial two weeks of instability and fight to survive in a tedious world. Hopefully there will be more to come as we draw closer to the season two release date, because fans are chomping at the bit to get more information.
Thanks to the folks at When Nerds Attack for allowing us to use their video of DJ Qualls and Alexa Davalos.
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