From HBO’s Euphoria to Netflix’s The Gentlemen, there’s a frustrating trend with the shows we actually want more of being stalled for whatever reason. And earlier this year, we assumed Shogun season 2 would share a similar fate.
But that’s obviously since changed.
Hailed as “Game of Thrones set in Feudal Japan,” this prestige drama based on the 1975 James Clavell novel — itself loosely based on English navigator William Adams and daimyō turned shōgun Tokugawa Ieyasu — ticks all the boxes: monster viewership, critical praise across the board, and most importantly, elite quality content.
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For their initial belief in the vision of husband-wife co-creators Justin Marks and Rachel Kondo, FX have also been rewarded with 25 Primetime Emmy nominations from Shogun alone (93 nods across nine programs in total). Something of a “Crimson Sky”-esque manoeuvre, considering the network had originally restricted themselves to the Limited Drama Series categories.
Though the question remains: when can we expect Shogun season 2? (Jump to the later sections of this article for Hiroyuki Sanada’s production updates.)
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FX’s Shogun season 2 confirmation
It’s official: not only has FX and Hulu greenlit Shogun season 2, but also Shogun season 3.
A writers’ room has already been assembled and “open[ed] in the summer” to explore a continuation beyond Clavell’s original novel.
Co-creators, executive producers, and writers Justin Marks and Rachel Kondo; fellow exec producer Michaela Clavell; as well as star and producer Hiroyuki Sanada are all involved with the development.
The plot twists along the way
In the week prior to the second season’s announcement, an exclusive story broken by Deadline revealed that Hiroyuki Sanada had inked a deal to return as Lord Yoshii Toronaga, hinting this was no longer a limited series as originally intended.
“Securing Sanada, whose character’s journey to become shōgun and lead Japan to an era of peace was chronicled in the 10-episode adaptation of James Clavell’s novel, has been considered crucial to any plan to extend Shogun beyond its original instalment,” explained Nellie Andreeva of the prolific entertainment publication.
“The outcome of the effort would determine whether Shōgun would be considered a limited or drama series going forward, which could have major ramifications on the 2024 Emmy race, with the timing of the decision tied to the deadline for Emmy submissions.”
Even more surprisingly, not everyone is thrilled about this.
Previous to this, closing the book on Shogun had pretty much been a forgone conclusion, given the source material had already been explored in its entirety.
“We took the story to the end of the book and put a period at the end of that sentence,” series co-creator Justin Marks told The Hollywood Reporter.
“We love how the book ends; it was one of the reasons why we both knew we wanted to do it — and we ended in exactly that place. And I’ve been party to this in the past with shows like this, where you build a whole factory, and it only pumps out 10 cars and closes up shop.”
“We’re very proud of that because the book ends so beautifully and boldly in this very unexpected and meditative kind of way. So, the story is complete.”
Justin Marks (via Town & Country)
Apparently no so “complete.”
In fact, Marks and Kondo had flirted with the idea of adapting The Thousand Autumns of Jacob de Zoet by David Mitchell and calling it a “pseudo-season-2,” as per the suggestion of THR’s Patrick Brezeski.
What will the second (and third) season of Shogun be about?
As mentioned in the opening paragraphs, Shogun is loosely based on real-life English navigator William Adams and the Tokugawa shogunate. In light of the fact they’ve completed adapting James Clavell’s story, however, Shogun season 2 and season 3 will be forced to lean on actual history.
Speaking with The Hollywood Reporter, which prompted him about depicting conflict in what was historically two centuries of peace, Hiroyuki Sanada had this to say:
“There are so many famous episodes in Japan. Toranaga’s strategies are like a chess game. It’s not only about fighting. Human drama is important. There will be new characters coming in, and we’re going to basically follow the real history in Shogun seasons 2 and 3. Before the peaceful era came, there were a lot of dramatic moments.”
Elsewhere, he elaborated: “We don’t have any novels anymore, but it means for the writers a kind of freedom. We have history. We have real models, and we know what happened.”
“So many episodes are there in the history. I hope the writers will enjoy that freedom. These kind of things are already in our DNA, I believe. With respect for [Clavell], his style, they create original stories freely. I’m so curious, and I cannot wait to read the first draft from them.”
Beyond expanding upon the original novel’s storyline as FX ostensibly plans to do with Sanada — similar to how David Farr is continuing The Night Manager starring Tom Hiddleston on behalf of the BBC and Amazon Prime Video — there are actually a few paths forward.me
For context, the source material on which Shogun is based represents just one of six novels from James Clavell’s Asian Saga. Chronologically, it’s followed by:
- Tai-Pan (set in Hong Kong, 1841)
- Gai-Jin (set in Japan, 1862)
- King Rat (set in a Singaporean Japanese POW camp, 1945)
- Noble House (set in Hong Kong, 1963)
- Whirlwind (set in Iran, 1979)
Assuming it continues to explore a sensationalised version of Japanese history, Rachel Kondo and Justin Marks could also pick things up over 200 years after the events of Shogun with Gai-Jin — official synopsis:
“Chronicling the adventures of Malcolm Struan, the son of Culum and Tess Struan, in Japan. The story delves deeply into the political situation in Japan and the hostility Westerners faced there, and is loosely based on the Namamugi Incident and the subsequent Anglo-Satsuma War.”
But if they choose to take the anthology route a la True Detective and delve into Tai-Pan, we can expect another prestige drama about European and American traders who find themselves in Hong Kong circa 1842 (the end of the First Opium War).
Who would the Shogun season 2 cast members be?
Aside from Hiroyuki Sanada returning as Lord Yoshii Toronaga in the Japan-set historical epic, sources have indicated that Cosmo Jarvis will likely also return to reprise his role as Pilot-Major John Blackthorn; who serves as Toronaga’s hatamoto and, as Sanada’s Lord Toronaga admits in the season finale, personal circus monkey.
[SPOILERS] Sadly, we shouldn’t expect the magnetic Anna Sawai to reprise her role as Lady Toda Mariko considering the events of ‘Chapter Nine: Crimson Sky.’ Unless they take the prequel/flashback route.
There isn’t a Shogun season 2 release date or trailer…
… but watch this space for any potential developments on both fronts. In the meantime, check out the trailer for Shogun season 1 at the bottom of this article; and revisit the limited series in its entirety via Disney+.
How is the second season of Shogun coming along?
During a recent interview with The Hollywood Reporter, leading man and producer Hiroyuki Sanada indicated the Vancouver-based production was coming along nicely; as well as the rough timeline the world could expect cameras to begin rolling.
“We have a writers room, and they’re working every day. Hopefully sometime next year, we can start shooting.”
This echoes the earlier statements of FX CEO John Landgraf, who’d noted: “We’re hoping to be in production relatively early next year. But it’s a long production period.”
“I think between principal and second unit days of photography, [season 1] shot between 180 and 190 days or more, could have been close to 200.”
In other words, late 2025/early 2026 is probably when the next episodes arrive.
Shogun (2024) Synopsis
The series follows “the collision of two ambitious men from different worlds and a mysterious female samurai — John Blackthorne (Cosmo Jarvis), a risk-taking English sailor who ends up shipwrecked in Japan, a land whose unfamiliar culture will ultimately redefine him; Lord Toranaga (Hiroyuki Sanada), a shrewd, powerful daimyo, at odds with his own dangerous, political rivals; and Lady Mariko (Anna Sawai), a woman with invaluable skills but dishonourable family ties, who must prove her value and allegiance.”
