As tech titans increasingly use original content to extend their digital empires, Amazon is distinguishing itself with a show about more traditional empire building. The e-commerce-turned-everything company announced today that Man in the High Castle has become the most-streamed original show ever by Amazon Prime members worldwide.
Thanks to those high viewership numbers, Amazon plans to renew the ambitious series, which straddles the line between historical fiction and fantasy.
The show, based on a novel by Philip K. Dick, explores an alternative reality in which the Axis Powers win World War II. Japan colonizes much of the Western United States, while the East Coast is absorbed into the Greater Nazi Reich.
Amazon surprised everyone last year with its award-winning and critically-acclaimed dramedy Transparent. Until now it wasn’t clear whether the company would be able to replicate that success and truly distinguish itself as a power player in the world of original content. But with two hit shows under its belt, Amazon is well on its way to conquering in its own right.
