Amazon has taken a unique approach creating original content. They produce pilots and let folks watch them and vote for which ones get a full series order. It’s an interesting, egalitarian approach, though it has yet to result in any huge hits—though Transparent is supposed to be marvelous. Around these parts, we have high hopes for one of their latest endeavors, an adaptation of Philip K. Dick’s The Man in the High Castle. Today brings news that it is moving forward as it is among the five new series Amazon has given the green light.

When the pilot arrived on the scene earlier this year, our review called it an “oddity-filled masterpiece”—it certainly made an impression. But you don’t have to take our word for it, as it was also well received outside of our narrow little confines. Amazon Studios Vice President Roy Price says, “During the latest pilot season, Amazon customers made The Man in the High Castle our most watched pilot ever.”

I’m a huge fan of Amazon Studios for both their original programming and their Pilot Seasons, where much of their content originates. This year’s crop includes the tense “boys will be awful boys” darkly comic thriller Mad Dogs from The Shield creator Shawn Ryan, as well as Carlton Cuse’s Civil War drama Point of Honor. But the only one that definitely, absolutely CANNOT be missed is The Man in the High Castle, an adaptation of Philip K. Dick’s influential novel of the same name, from ex-X-Files writer Frank Spotnitz. This isn’t your grandparents’ America.

Let’s get any negativity deflated by saying right away that yes, some of the novel has been changed in order to develop this alternate-history drama into a TV series. Characters have been combined and streamlined, and the written work that ties everything together has been replaced, oddly enough, with a set of newsreels. But rather than feeling like pointless alterations, everything comes across as smooth as Rufus Sewell’s forehead.

Amazon Studios’ pilot season, where audiences can watch the first episode for a variety of new shows and vote on which ones they want to become full series, is a unique, egalitarian way to go about sourcing new shows. While it’s produced a few things of mild interest, by far the most exciting thing they’ve done up to this point, at least in our humble opinion, is an adaptation of Philip K. Dick’s classic sci-fi novel The Man in the High Castle. The new slate of potential shows is now up for your perusal (we haven’t watched it yet, but we should have a review of it before long), but here is a new clip to whet your appetite.

Set in an alternate reality where the Axis powers won World War II, the book is a sprawling collection of loosely connected narrative threads spread out across the U.S., ranging from coast to coast. You watch as tensions rise between the hegemonic powers of Japan and Germany, and as the underground resistance plies their trade in these dangerous times. It’s not a novel that easily lends itself to adaptation, and we’re curious to see how Amazon pulls it off.

We just found out that one potentially cool sci-fi-themed project at Amazon isn’t going to happen, as news came down that X-Files creator Chris Carter’s apocalyptic The After isn’t going to move forward. But the online retail monolith did officially announce their first pilot season for 2015, and it includes the most exciting project they’ve ever attempted, at least from our perspective, an adaptation of Philip K. Dick’s The Man in the High Castle, and they also unveiled some new details about the pilot.

The way this works is, starting on January 15, all of the pilots will be available to watch on Amazon Instant Video. You can check them out, rate them, provide feedback, and vote for your favorites. At the end, some of these projects will get full series orders, and others won’t. This is a cool, egalitarian model, though it has yet to result in anything truly noteworthy, but maybe that will change this time.

Every year it seems like there’s at least one interesting sci-fi-themed option in Amazon’s audience participation based pilot season. X-Files creator Chris Carter showed up with The After one time, and the one we’ve been most interested in this year is an adaptation of Philip K. Dick’s classic sci-fi novel The Man in the High Castle. We’ve heard some casting news over the last few months, but now the online retail monolith has released an official synopsis.

Ridley Scott and Syfy were working together to bring Dick’s book to the small screen, but that never materialized, and earlier this year, it was announced that it would join Amazon’s party. Amazon Studios produces a handful of pilots, which subscribers can watch and then vote on. The titles with the most votes are then given a series order. It’s a unique, egalitarian way to about the process, though it has yet to result in anything either super great or overwhelmingly popular.

Have you always wondered what the world would be like if the U.S. had been on the losing side of World War II? The upcoming Amazon Studios pilot The Man in the High Castle attempts to answer that question with an alternate take on our nation’s history. Now the series’ female lead has been cast, and Clash of the Titans beauty Alexa Davalos is set to kick a little ass as part of the country’s rising resistance forces.

The Man in the High Castle is a 1962 novel from sci-fi author Philip K. Dick, and its adaptation is being spearheaded by X-Files writer/producer Frank Spotnitz, who also created that series’ spinoff The Lone Gunmen and the Cinemax action drama Hunted. The series is set in 1962, in a completely different version of the United States, where the East Coast is ruled by the Nazis and the West Coast is run by the Japanese. The Midwest is still something of a free nation, and that’s where the Resistance makes its home.