The decision to cast journeyman Danish actor Carsten Norgaard as a Nazi double-agent in ‘The Man in the High Castle’ – the latest Philip K Dick novel to be adapted, this time by Amazon Studios – might initially anger his fellow German actors, but it’s actually a pretty accurate piece of casting.

Norgaard plays an agent plotting to stop a war from erupting in 1960s America between Germany and Japan. Confused? Well, they won the World War II, which means that Denmark has long been merged into the German empire and its people into its machine, making Norgaard as Nazi as they come.

Success has been elusive
The role, an ongoing albeit relatively minor one in a series that got the green light after an extremely successful pilot, could end up being a belated breakthrough for a Danish actor who has been mostly based in Hollywood since the 1980s.

Norgaard has had a few turkeys (‘Alien vs Predator’), had a few fan clubs (didn’t everyone in the ’90s) and even dabbled in soft porn (the lamentable ‘Red Shoe Diaries’), but stardom has always evaded him … until now.

Unquestionable potential
But given the public’s fondness for Dick (‘Bladerunner’, ‘Minority Report’, and even ‘Total Recall’), ‘The Man in the High Castle’ has the potential to become one of this year’s biggest new series.

So far, its pilot has received a 94 percent rating on Rotten Tomatoes and 8.5 on IMDB.