Will 'The Man In the High Castle' Return For S3?

Amazon's The Man in the High Castle is an alternate history of the United States that imagines a world where the former republic is instead a post-WWII fascist state split between Germany and Japan. The show is dark, but its political pessimism feels like appropriate subject matter to close out 2016. Will The Man in the High Castle be back Season 3? The series has not been renewed yet, but it's a bit early to be worrying about that, given that Amazon hasn't even gotten the chance to see how the second season of the series is received. Occasionally, networks (or, increasingly, websites/streaming services) will renew a series before seeing how it preforms, but there's nothing wrong with Amazon waiting for the premiere of The Man in the High Castle Season 2 before making an announcement. However, post-premiere, Amazon has been quick with the renewals before. The first season of Man in the High Castle was renewed just after its premiere, allowing the show to produce another season within a year. So if the same happens after the second season premiere, then Man in the High Castle Season 3 should premiere in the last few weeks of 2017.

But what to do once you binge watch the entire second season and then have to wait for at least a year for more episode? Now, you can say you'll try to space out your viewing and draw it out for weeks, but I know you're lying — and when you still have four vacation days left and no more TV show ideas, here's a few political, high-concept series that should appeal to Man in the High Castle fans.

House Of Cards

If you're a political pessimist, you probably think of HoC as pretty realistic, but the level of scheming that Frank Underwood gets up to as he attempts to consolidate power feels more like something out of an alternate form of government.

Designated Survivor

Another alternate history show, this one about what could happen if the United States suffered a major terrorist attack that killed most members of the government, forcing a minor member of the Cabinet to take over. And it might be 2016's most addictive show, for better or worse, so beware — you will want to watch more.

Veep

You might think Veep is the most unrealistic entry on this list, but it routinely gets mentioned as a pretty insightful look into the petty conflicts that can derail real politicians.

Black Mirror

This near-future science fiction anthology series began as deeply, exclusively British, and it's from UK creator Charlie Brooker, but its third season was produced by Netflix and adopted a few issues that cross the pond, too. Overall, it's a view of where technology might be taking society, through a particularly dark and nasty lens.

Rectify

No show demonstrated the human consequences of political issues like Rectify. And since the show just ended after four thoughtful seasons, it's the perfect time to catch up on this series at the slow, considered pace it deserves, rather than a ravenous marathon.

The Americans

The same way The Man in the High Castle uses the post-WWII period as a source for the show's conflict, The Americans uses a version of the Cold War as a backdrop. It stars two Russian spies so well assimilated into American culture that they appear to be a normal 1980s suburban married couple with kids.

So, there's plenty of series to marathon after you finish with the Amazon show and are waiting for renewal news.

Images: David Giesbrecht, David Dettmann/Netflix (2); Ben Mark Holzberg/ABC; Giphy (2)