Just a few days after we confirmed The Man in the High Castle was renewed for Season 2, Amazon Prime has some other big news related to the original drama. The series, which follows an alternate take on history, picking up after Germany won WWII, is apparently the most-watched series in Amazon Prime's history. Although the streaming service’s history is a rather short one, that’s still a really promising sign.
Previously, the Amazon original Bosch was the most-watched original series in Amazon Prime’s history. Bosch, like The Man in the High Castle, was renewed for a second season which is set to premiere in 2016. However, while Amazon is not revealing specific numbers related to The Man in the High Castle, we do know it is currently the company’s most streamed series globally and it only took the show four short weeks to get there. Despite one small blip in terms of advertising angering some New York subway users, the show has mostly received positive press and critical acclaim. It’s also received a bit more notice than some of Amazon’s other originals. (I’m looking at you Red Oaks.)
Amazon original programs don’t have as much prominence as Netflix shows at this point in terms of media coverage and overall subscriptions, but it’s difficult to tell from press releases like this how much each show stacks up. Netflix notoriously refuses to play the ratings game and give anyone a gauge of how well-watched its originals are, and this week’s big release from Amazon Prime proves the company is following suite. So we have no idea how Daredevil stacks up to network or cable TV programs. Nor do we have any idea how The Man in the High Castle stacks up when compared to the likes of Daredevil’s overall viewership.
Still, it’s good news in many ways that streaming services rely on overall subscribers rather than viewership per episode to get renewed. A combination of acclaim and good numbers compared to other shows on the streaming channel should be enough to keep a streaming original in play for at least a few seasons. What we can also take from this press release is that Man in the High Castle is doing well, at least in terms of the streaming service it is a part of. If it continues to garner such high audiences compared to the other shows also airing on the streaming service, it’s likely we’ll see plenty of new seasons in The Man in the High Castle’s future.
Currently, we don’t know much about The Man in the High Castle’s second season, but if you haven’t caught Season 1 yet, all 10 episodes are available on Amazon Prime—for free if you are already a member. In addition, you can check out the full list of programming set to hit the schedule this winter, here.
