The first few editions of the book had covers with a rising sun and a swastika side-by-side, sometimes dividing a map of the United States in half. Simple, direct, and to the point, right? But in the late 80s, after the release of the Cult Classic PKD adaptation Blade Runner, all of a sudden we get this◊. Although the book does mention that Nazi technology in space travel has advanced, nothing in the book even remotely suggests the San Fransisco of this alternate universe is the kind of cyberpunk metropolis Blade Runner popularized. In fact, when Tagomi crosses over to our world, it's suggested the San Fran of the book is even less industrialized.
A similar alternate history novel, United States of Japan, written by Peter Tieryas, is almost like The Man In The High Castle, even stating to be the Spiritual Successor of the said novel. While The Man in the High Castle puts a lot of emphasis in the Nazi-occupied America, this novel focuses more on the Japanese-controlled America side of things instead. It's also geared towards a younger audience since United States of Japan novel uses a lot of anime and manga tropes, more particularly, Cyberpunk and giant robots. Its sequel Mecha Samurai Empire follows in this tradition.
Reality Subtext: Philip K. Dick actually did consult the I Ching while coming up with ideas for the book, much as Hawthorne does when writing his. This may imply he is something of an Author Avatar.
The mentions of Nazi colonies on Mars and Venus by 1962. Both the ease of getting to those planets, and the habitability of the latter, were overestimated in The '60s.
Additionally, the Nazis turning the Mediterranean into a vast farmland. The seabed would become a huge salty desert with unbearably high temperatures, climate patterns across Europe would be thrown off, and all that drained water would be redistributed into the world's oceans, raising sea levels by at least 10 meters. Not the ideal place for your empire's breadbasket.
What Could Have Been: Dick toyed around with several ideas for a sequel, but he couldn't bring himself to do more research on Nazi Germany, which he found profoundly depressing and soul-draining enough for one novel. Among them were:
A story called "Ring of Fire" where the Nazis discover our world and steal nuclear weapons while a hybrid Japanese-American culture emerges.
An early version of Radio Free Albemuth where the VALIS satellite was communicating Hawthorne Abendsen's next book to him and keeping the Gestapo away.
California Doubling: Inverted in that all of the scenes set in California are actually shot elsewhere. Seattle doubles for San Francisco in some scenes, as can be seen with what is clearly the Smith Tower in the background of the first episode. British Columbia doubles for such locations as the Colorado Rocky Mountains and the Catskills, and the small town of Roslyn, WA stands for Canon City, CO. The New York train station in Season Two is actually Pacific Central Station in Vancouver (complete with identifiably VIA Rail equipment on the tracks in one scene).
Fake American: Features several Brits playing Americans, including Rupert Evans (Frank Frink), Rufus Sewell (Obergruppenfuhrer Smith), and Burn Gorman (the Marshal), though the last is a half-example, being born in the US to English parents, then raised in the UK from the age of seven. Canadian actress Chelah Horsdal plays the American Helen Smith.
While most of the Japanese characters are played by Japanese-Americans, Joel de la Fuente has no Japanese ancestry at all (he has Filipino ancestry). This might be why the show calls out his character's American accent when he speaks Japanese.
Some German characters are played by other nationalities: Danish actor Carsten Norgaard plays the German Rudolph Wegener, and Australian actress Bella Heathcote plays young Berlin socialite Nicole Becker.
Follow the Leader: SS-GB is one for BBC, where the Nazis maintain control over the British Isles in a timeline where they won in the Battle of Britain campaign.
I Want You to Meet an Old Friend of Mine: Tamlyn Tomita plays Tamiko Watanabe, a new lady friend of Trade Minister Tagomi's in season 3. Tomita and Cary-Hiroyuki Tanaka had played a husband and wife in the film Picture Bride (1995).
Overtook the Manga: Although the series is a very loose adaptation of the novel, the first season basically ends at the same point the novel does. note With a couple of outliers: Julianna doesn't actually meet The Man in The High Castle until the next season, and she doesn't kill Joe Blake until season 3. Season 2 resolves the cliffhanger ending of the novel by ending the Succession Crisis and introducing an uneasy peace between the two powers. Season 3 starts to work with some of the ideas that Dick was going to use in the unwritten sequel novel.
Playing Against Type: Cary-Hiroyuki Tanaka is most well-known for playing villains, while here he plays probably the most sympathetic and likable Japanese character.
Troubled Production: There were plans to bring the book into a TV series much earlier by different studios but fell through, the BBC in 2010 and SyFy in 2013, before Amazon studios finally took over.
Wag the Director: Rufus Sewell refused to wear an SS peaked cap with a Death's Head emblem, believing this to be too strongly associated with the death camps and would harm his character John Smith's portrayal as an Anti-Villain. As a compromise, he was given a fictional uniform with an SS runestone instead.
What Could Have Been: The BBC version would've been written by Howard Brenton, a playwright who was responsible for many early and influential episodes of Spooks.
◊. Although the book does mention that Nazi technology in space travel has advanced, nothing in the book even remotely suggests the San Fransisco of this alternate universe is the kind of cyberpunk metropolis Blade Runner popularized. In fact, when Tagomi crosses over to our world, it's suggested the San Fran of the book is even less industrialized.
