Will FX’s “Shōgun” Get A Second Season?
This past week, Disney’s FX released the final episode of the hit series, “Shōgun”, on Hulu and Disney+ around the world. The limited series is based on James Clavell’s novel and is set in Japan in the year 1600 at the dawn of a century-defining civil war. Lord Yoshii Toranaga is fighting for his life as his enemies on the Council of Regents unite against him, when a mysterious European ship is found marooned in a nearby fishing village.
“Shōgun” has already proven to be a success for Disney. The premiere pulled in 9 million views globally across Hulu and Disney+, based on six days of streaming, making it the No. 1 scripted General Entertainment series premiere on Disney+ globally.
And with the show coming to an end, many fans of the show are no doubt asking if we might see a second season of the show, which has been compared to one of the great shows of recent times, “Game Of Thrones”.
During a recent interview with the THR, “Shōgun” showrunner Justin Marks was asked about the potential of a second season, to which he replied:
I don’t know. I keep saying it’s like we want to let everyone be on the same page when it comes to the book. And hopefully now the TV audience and the book audience are on the same page with what the story is and where it resolves. I think if we had a story, if we could find a story, we would be open to it. But I don’t think that anyone ever wants to be out over their skis without a roadmap and everything. And it’s also just about, do people want more of it?
But it’s also about, not even topping the book, but, how do you even equal the roadmap that Clavell laid out? And I don’t know if it’s possible. I don’t know if Clavell could have done it either. That’s probably why he moved on to other books too, right? He knew what he had done. Yeah, it’s a tough one.
While the limited series did adapt the entire “Shōgun” novel, James Clavell did write five other novels, which are part of his “Asian Saga”, with “Shōgun” being the third instalment. The series focused on telling stories of Europeans visiting Asia, and exploring the impact on East and West of the meeting of these two distinct civilizations. However, these other books don’t feature characters from “Shōgun”, since some of them are set hundreds of years later.
Justin was asked if there was any of his other books in The Asian Saga that could be released under the “Shōgun: banner, especially since FX has become well known for making anthology series, like “American Horror Story”, “American Crime Story” and “Fargo”, which are completely separate from the previous seasons, to which Mark replied:
Oh, gosh. Well, I can only speak for myself reading Tai-Pan right now, just apropos of nothing, honestly, and what a great book. I’ve been telling Rachel about it as I’ve been reading it and saying, “Well! He did it again.” But it’s completely different. It’s about Hong Kong in the early days, a totally different world, so it’s not just playing the hits. He’s conjuring new vivid characters that stand 75,000 feet tall all at once. And I think when you look at Shōgun, that’s part of what Clavell did. We were given these characters who were really so colorful and accessible, which is a hard magic to conjure as a novelist and as a writer.
No doubt, Disney is going to look at the success of “Shōgun” and look to see if they replicate it, so starting with other books from James Clavell would make sense. But it’s taken ten years for FX to finally get “Shōgun” out, and it has always been planned as a limited series, but hopefully, we might see FX attempt some other adaptions since “Shōgun” went down so well with audiences.
You’ll find all ten episodes of “Shōgun” available to stream now on Hulu and Hulu On Disney+ in the United States and on Disney+ around the world.
Would you like to see a second season of “Shōgun“? Let us know on social media!
Roger Palmer
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