What do we stand for?

What should a civilised society be?

How should it conduct itself?

Those are the questions I wanted to examine.

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I spoke toThe X-FilesandHuntedwriter about the ideas behind his provocative new adaptation… For me thats the most interesting part.

I mean, squint a bit and…

Well, its a very interesting question isnt it?

Are your goals inward or outward?

Is it about self-realisation, or serving your community and your family?

To me, that was getting at a key difference between a liberal society and an authoritarian one.

That self-gratification is the path to moral decay?

That whole scene is quite provocative to an American audience, isnt it?

Youve got this all-American patriarch sat there wearing a Nazi uniform.

Its a challenge to the viewer, would you say?

Thats exactly my hope, yes.

Id like people to watch the show and think about what they stand for.

You write these things, you dont know whether people will see those ideas in it.

But, I dont have answers.

Im not putting this in to sort of lecture people or tell them what to think.

I dont know the answer, but I just think these are questions that are worth exploring.

What do we stand for?

What should a civilised society be?

How should it conduct itself?

Those are the questions I wanted to examine.

Youaretalking about modern America and the modern world?

Oh yeah, absolutely.

One thing Ive noted about your writing is that it always has a very keen sense of irony.

InHunted, Ill never forget the Communist who was bludgeoned to death using a bust of Karl Marx.

[Laughs] Oh, right!

If they knew, yeah.

You live in Paris, is that right?

How do you think your ex-pat status affects your approach to a piece of work thats essentially about America?

I think its been hugely helpful.

You see yourself as well.

Its been a huge asset to me in the writing of this show.

Along those lines, its right that you were born in Japan?

Yes, I was.

I wondered what that brought to your understanding of these themes?

Obviously, its held a very big place in my imagination, having been born there.

To me, there are really two Japans.

The Japanese soldiers in World War II were every bit as terrifying as the Nazis.

The two are not compatible, and that was really interesting to me in the show.

She is somebody who has the humanity to see both and thats why shes the heroine of this show.

Did the US never quite get over what the English did to it around the Revolutionary War?

I actually think, when I was growing up, there was remarkablylittleinterest in the Revolutionary War.

You never saw it dramatized.

The only thing I can think of is the musical1776, which failed as a feature film.

I kind of think this is about living in a post-9/11 world and I think people are still afraid.

I think these things touch on those fears.

I think thats kind of what the world needs right now.

You mention living in Paris and London, and teaching in Berlin.

These are places that obviously experienced WWII on their soil in a way that the US didnt.

Is there any sense from audiences that the fiction isnt being responsible enough to the actual realities of WWII?

I havent had that.

Its certainly been a concern of mine.

Its not really in the past for an awful lot of people.

But its interesting to look at the customer reviews on the Amazon sites.

So you have had German viewers?

Just go to the Amazon.de site.

I dont read German, but if you just look at the star ratings.

At least the last time I checked, it was similar to the US and the UK.

How about Japanese viewers?

I havent seen that yet.

I havent seen how the Japanese responded.

Im very curious because obviously the culture is so different.

Im really eager to see how it plays.

You consulted some WWII historians when adapting this.

Tell us about your collaboration with Ridley Scott on this?

How involved was he?

We spoke to him every month or six weeks while we were preparing the pilot and the series.

He was very influential in terms of the visual approach, both in the cinematography and the production design.

He gave us several references to look at, films and fine art.

Can you tell us what they were?

And in terms of fine art, it was Edward Hopper.

There were Hopper paintings.

As were Den Of Geek, were obviously obsessed with nerdy details.

Yes, thats right!

Where else should fans ofThe X-Filesor your other work look in this series for nods and references?

Theres arent too many others.

There arent a lot, and thats the biggest one so far.

Im trying to remember what the other one is.

Im sorry, this is giving my memory a workout!

Theres something else in season one, I just cant recall it.

And any nods to Ridley Scotts films?

The big thing obviously was the origami that we gave a character in episodes one and two.

Id say episodes one and two were almost identical, we changed very, very little.

When Amazon came on board, that was not the design at all.

For instance, originally, in episode four, youmetthe Man in the High Castle.

That doesnt happen now at all.

So, that was the biggest reconstruction we had to do.

Yes, thats right.

But youve had less trouble than he did sketching out a continuation for this?

Frank Spotnitz, thank you very much!