Showrunner Frank Spotnitz Steps Back from The Man In The High Castle

Just a couple of weeks ago, Frank Spotnitz tweeted his excitement about shooting commenced on season two of The Man In The High Castle, and now he’s all but leaving the series. Spotnitz will continue on as an executive producer for the series, but he is stepping down from his role as showrunner.

The show, an intensive “what if” scenario on what would’ve happened had the United States lost World War II and been split between Japan and Germany, is one of Amazon’s most popular pieces of original streaming content. Differences between the video streaming outlet and Spotnitz were cited as the reason for the showrunner’s demotion.

The Man In The High Castle’s second season was in the middle of production when this all went down, putting it on hiatus, effective immediately. Spotnitz will not be replaced as of now, but other producers will be stepping in to fill his role, according to Amazon. Deadline reports Amazon’s full statement:

Given the ambition and scope of the series, the decision has been made to locate all creative efforts on The Man in the High Castle to the West Coast; Frank Spotnitz will remain as an Executive Producer and step back from showrunner. His responsibilities will be managed by our deep and talented bench of producers. We are enormously grateful to him for bringing our customers on one of the most watched original shows on Amazon Video and we are excited about the team’s vision for season two.

The Man in the High Castle, based on the 1962 novel by Philip K. Dick of the same name, became Amazon’s most-watched original series in December. Spotnitz, also one of the brains behind The X-Files, had the show developed for a few years before Amazon picked it up and released a ten-episode premiere season in November of 2015. The second season was expected to be released later this year.