Among the world-changing events in Amazon’s new trailer for season 3 of The Man in the High Castle are the Nazi’s bid to rewrite American history by melting down the Liberty Bell, Juliana taking charge of the Resistance, and U2 allowing Pride (In the Name of Love) to be covered by another artist for the first time ever. Bono and the Edge must be fans of the show.
The new trailer is more than 2 minutes long and finally shows much more detail than the teaser trailers did, giving us a good idea of where Castle is going this season. It looks bold and exciting. They are taking the next step in world-building, opening up the parallel worlds for exploration and discussion among more of the cast and the original world.
Overall the trailer shows a natural progression of the storylines from their individual, secretive beginnings in season 1 to an organizational, national level in season 2, bringing us to an explosive, global, possibly multiuniversal level in season 3. With only 10 episodes and a season 4 renewal already in the bag, I’m willing to bet that the conquest/true exploration of the multiverse will wait for the next season, while this season is spent fighting over who is in control of the world when the gates are breached on an official basis.
The trailer and more after the jump.
Observations/analysis:
There are spoilers ahead!
Juliana takes control of the Resistance, as I’ve been begging for all along, so I’m a happy camper. She uses the films as a tool to persuade people to follow her. She also says that she’s starting to have memories of other lives from other timelines. Does that mean that some of the timelines are merging? It could be that these worlds were all meant to be one world, and some kind of accident or disaster fractured them into a multiverse. The endgame could be to reunite the timelines.
The original Man in the High Castle, Hawthorne Abensen, still has a prominent role to play, if his placement in the trailer is anything to go by. Tagomi, who Abendsen passed the films on to, also has prominent placement, and has grown close to Juliana. Someone cautions Juliana to be careful, while Jason O’Mara’s new character, Wyatt Price, believes in her cause.
John Smith is celebrated and continues to be a favored son of the Reich, but he also continues to be conflicted and able to see the truth of situations. There’s no doubt that his loyalty is to himself and his family. Any other loyalties are opportunistic. The death of Thomas will be an important factor in his season 3 arc, and that of his wife, Betty.
Himmler appears to be in charge and makes Hitler look like a sedate kitten.
Frank isn’t in the trailer, or if he was, I missed him every time, but his portrayer, Rupert Evans, is credited in the IMDB listings for the season.
Ed is in a rural area, likely the mountainous Neutral Zone, and is waving goodbye to someone.
Kido is on some kind of quest involving a photograph, possibly one from a parallel world that he’s trying to match to ours.
Joe is still straddling the line between the Nazis and the Resistance. He’s shown with last season’s love interest and fellow Lebensborn Nicole, but we also see him enthusiastically reuniting with Juliana.
It sounds like Nicole supports the Nazis plan to obliterate American history prior to the Nazi occupation. The Nazi’s hope to stop future uprisings by destroying all evidence that North America was ever made up of free, democratic nations. Once the older generations are gone, younger people will know nothing of the true history, since they won’t be taught it in school, and all monuments, books and symbols that would reflect the truth will be gone. The public schools will be/are an important vehicle for government propaganda.
A nuclear bomb goes off in Monument Valley, in the Four Corners area where the states of Utah, Arizona, New Mexico and Colorado meet and where the desert and Rocky Mountains also meet. It’s in the Neutral Zone, if I remember the maps correctly. Either it’s a bomb test by the Japanese, or one of the two empires is attacking the Resistance in the Neutral Zone. Or both. There are better places to test bombs than the site of geological landmarks.
I’m personally offended by this bombing because that’s one of my favorite areas in the whole world, plus, I literally drove through there one week ago today. Those rock formations are irreplaceable, Mr Trump Obergruppenführer Smith. The Nazis had better stay out of my safe little corner of the Neutral Zone here in New Mexico, d*mn it.
Amazon’s page for season 3 gives this description:
Juliana uncovers a dangerous Nazi plan for ultimate supremacy. Can she convince others to join her in stopping it? Or is it already too late? Though recently celebrated by Himmler, Smith finds that the dangers to his family continue. As the GNR takes retaliatory measures toward the JPS, tensions rise and Tagomi tries to broker peace. A haunted Kido searches for old enemies.
If you really want to be spoiled, IMDB has the episode titles and descriptions up for season 3, with a photo from each episode. That’s more than I want to know this early in the game.
The press release version of the season 3 description:
Season three of the Emmy award-winning The Man in the High Castle finds Juliana Crain (Alexa Davalos) grappling with her destiny after seeking safety in the Neutral Zone. Realizing that their fates are intertwined, she works with Trade Minister Tagomi (Cary-Hiroyuki Tagawa) to interpret the mystery of the last remaining films. Meanwhile, as tensions between the Reich and the Empire continue to rise, Joe Blake (Luke Kleintank) returns from Berlin and is sent on a diplomatic mission to San Francisco, where he and Juliana reunite and come to a turning point in their relationship. Also in the new season, Obergruppenfuhrer John Smith (Rufus Sewell) finds himself celebrated by Nazi high society, but political forces are closing in as North American Reischsmarschall Lincoln Rockwell and J. Edgar Hoover plot against him. Helen (Chelah Horsdal) takes drastic action to protect her family while they struggle with the aftermath of Thomas’ death, and Smith learns of a shocking and ambitious new Nazi program that has personal and global ramifications.
The trailer’s cover of U2’s Pride (In the Name of Love) is sung by German artist Lxandra.
I hope to recap season 1 before season 3 starts. Season 2 was one of the first shows I recapped when I started the blog, including predictions/hopes for season 3. If you don’t have time for a rewatch or reread, Amazon produced a 30 minute video to catch everyone up on the important plot points.
Amazon’s Season 1&2 Recap Video- 30 minutes long:
Images from the collage at the top of the page are courtesy of Amazon Prime via The Man in the High Castle FaceBook page.
Other sources:
Metawitches 
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