Amazon's The Man in the High Castle is easily one of the most complex series to have aired on television in recent years. Though its conclusion was far from satisfying for most fans, the series nevertheless told some incredibly compelling stories about heroism, race, agency, and so much more in its four-season run.
Expanding on the world of Philip K. Dick's original novel, the Amazon Prime series also introduced and adapted dozens of fascinating characters, though some of them were far more compelling than others. The series focused on a core group of characters, despite the breadth of its world, but not all of them received adequate development or attention.
Joe Blake
When The Man in the High Castle began, it was clear that Joe Blake had plenty of potential. As a double agent, he was one of the characters with the most at stake, particularly as he found himself romantically swayed by Juliana Crain.
But from the second season onward, it became clear the show had no real concrete plans for him. Joe spent the second season wasting away in self-indulgent and self-loathing splendor in Germany, before going full irredeemable villain in season 3.
Helen Smith
Helen Smith is another character the series never quite figures out what to do with. In the first two seasons, she is a doting housewife fully devoted to the Reich. Then, suddenly, audiences are expected to believe she can play a role in saving the day.
After her son's suicide, she begins to question her loyalty. But she makes no real character progression or change until the eleventh hour in the series' final season, making her attempt at redemption ring hollow.
Nicole Dormer
Nicole Dormer is perhaps the opposite of Joe and Helen. When she is introduced in the series, she appears as nothing more than a distraction, a caricature rather than a character as she leads Joe through a life of debauchery.
But in the third season, which was, unfortunately, her last, she is given one of the series' first LGBTQ+ storylines, which forces her to confront her own personal loyalties to her role in producing propaganda for a society determined to kill all those like her. Sadly, Nicole's storyline ends all too abruptly, and with a far from satisfying resolution.
John Smith
Another character with wasted potential is arguably one of the series' most important. John Smith travels an incredible trajectory across the span of the series, rising from Obergruppenfuhrer to Reichsfuhrer over the span of four seasons.
Yet all the while as he does this, Smith continues to question his loyalty to the system he works to assert. As his allegiance to his family above all takes precedence, it becomes harder and harder to believe Smith's rise to the role of ultimate villain, no matter his last-minute acceptance of his culpability.
Ed McCarthy
There are few kinder, better people in the world of High Castle than the ever-loyal and lovable Ed McCarthy. Though he's seldom given more focus than that of a supporting character and second banana, Ed is nevertheless one of the series' most reliable, heroic characters.
Ed works alongside Frank, Juliana, and Childan in their fights against their enemies, but he's not given the chance to have his own storyline until he finds love in season 3. But then, without explanation, the series moves on, and Ed's story is left unfinished.
Robert Childan
For much of his time in the first few seasons, Robert Childan serves as both comic relief and a plot device. As a liaison between the American population and the Japanese elite, he is yet another character in the series' world who lives within the gray.
However, as the show progresses, Childan's life continues to spiral further out of his own control, resulting in situations equal parts hilarious and terrifying. It is his romance with Yukiko, a Japanese woman who begins to work with him in his antiquities shop, that ultimately makes his character's arc so meaningful.
Nobusuke Tagomi
Tagomi is arguably the most intelligent character in the world of The Man in the High Castle. Not only does he have an entire lifetime of experience and wisdom behind him in his role as Trade Minister, but Tagomi is also the first character shown to have an understanding of the multiverse, and the ability to travel between worlds using the I Ching.
Tagomi is given many moving storylines throughout the series, particularly his cross-universe bond with Juliana Crain and in the other universe where he has relationships with his family. But Tagomi's arc is cut all too short by the nonsensical decision to kill his character off-screen between seasons 3 and 4.
Takeshi Kido
The man that Takeshi Kido is when the series ends is almost unrecognizable from the man he was when it began. At the start of High Castle, Kido is a wholly imposing man, the fierce Chief Inspector who shows no mercy when dealing with his foes, no matter the circumstance.
But over the course of the series, Kido's layers are pulled back and his complexities revealed, through his flirtation with a woman named Gina and through his powerful, protective, self-sacrificing relationship with his adult son, Toru.
Frank Frink
Frank Frink is one of the characters who undergoes some of the greatest amounts of development and change over the course of the three seasons in which he appears. When the show begins, he is just Juliana's boyfriend, a listless artist of Jewish descent who struggles to assimilate into a world that hates him.
By the second season, Frank is a fully radicalized member of the Resistance, nearly giving his life in the name of the cause and in the hopes of bringing an end to the cruelty and hatred that permeates his world. In the third season, he is a man changed, both physically and emotionally, who ultimately makes peace with his life and sacrifice before his untimely death at the hands of his nemesis, Kido.
Juliana Crain
When Juliana Crain enters the scene in the first episode, she is a quiet, unassuming young woman who practices Aikido and lives with her boyfriend. By the time the series ends, Juliana is nothing short of the savior of the multiverse, the one true hero capable of putting an end to the power of the Reich.
Her journey is truly a sight to behold, as she is radicalized by the loss of her sister Trudy and made aware of the reality of the multiverse by Tagomi and Hawthorne Abendsen. She comes to accept her power and her unique abilities, no matter the risks or cost.