This morning Amazon Studios handed out a second season renewal to musical comedy Mozart in the Jungle as well as series orders to hourlong dramas The Man in the High Castle and Mad Dogs (with docu-series The New Yorker Presents and kids shows Just Add Magic and The Stinky & Dirty Show also moving forward). The new series will premiere on Prime Instant Video later this year and into 2016.
The Man in the High Castle is based on Philip K. Dick's alternative history novel in which Nazi Germany and Japan were the victors of World War II. Almost 20 years later, much of the globe has been split between the two countries. But tension is mounting for the Axis powers, and the stress is playing out in the U.S. where fascism rules and the few surviving Jews hide under assumed names.
The pilot starred Alexa Davalos, Luke Kleintank, Rupert Evans, Cary-Hiroyuki Tagawa, Joel De La Fuente, Rufus Sewell and DJ Qualls. Frank Spotnitz adapted the series, with David Semel directing the pilot. Ridley Scott and David W. Zucker are also executive producers, with co-executive producer Jordan Sheehan of Scott Free. Executive producers for Headline Pictures are Stewart Mackinnon and Christian Baute. Isa Dick Hackett will also executive produce and Kalen Egan will co-executive produce for Electric Shepherd. Christopher Tricarico is also an executive producer.
Mad Dogs is an hourlong dark comedy/drama from Cris Cole and Shawn Ryan. Based on the UK original, Mad Dogs follows the reunion of a group of underachieving forty-something friends in a Belize villa where grudges begin to emerge and secrets explode as their trip becomes a labyrinthine nightmare of lies, deception and murder.
The pilot starred Steve Zahn, Billy Zane, Romany Malco, Michael Imperioli and Ben Chaplin. It was directed by Charles McDougall, who is an executive producer with Cole, Ryan, Marney Hochman, Andy Harries and Suzanne Mackie. It's co-produced with Sony Pictures Television.
