Hiroyuki Sanada Gives Update On “Shōgun” Season Two

Last year, Disney’s FX released a brand-new drama limited series based on James Clavell’s novel, “Shōgun”. 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.

Following the show’s release, it quickly picked up steam, pulling in 9 million views across FX, Hulu and Disney+ for the first episode and “Shogun” went on to become FX’s most watched show ever based on global hours streamed.  

With critical acclaim and fantastic viewership, FX decided to commission two more seasons of the show, which would be all new stories, based on some of James Clavell’s other books.

It was revealed that the show’s key creative partners, including Co-Creators, Executive Producers and Writers Justin Marks and Rachel Kondo, Executive Producer Michaela Clavell, and series star and producer Hiroyuki Sanada, are on board for the development of the second season.  Production timing has not been announced in, but a writers’ room was assembled last summer. 

During this weekend’s Critics Choice Awards, which saw “Shōgun” pick up six awards, including Best Drama, the show’s creators Rachel Kondo and Justin Marks hinted to Deadline at what might happen in the second season:

We’re coming out of the writers room now. We’re also done with the 10 episodes and we have our finale now. That’s allowing us to start figuring out how we’re going to shoot this. But we’re very excited about the plan,” he said. “I think the thing to take away, more than anything, is how, I hope people are going to be surprised with some of the big ideas as soon as the first episode of part two. So, we’ll start there and see where it takes us for future stories. But we’re really excited about it, especially for [Hiroyuki Sanada].”

While Hiroyuki Sanada, who won Best Actor for his performance in the series, provided a minor update on his character:

“In Season 1, [Toranaga] didn’t become a Shōgun yet. So, I’d like to see him become the leader of Japan. That is my hope. 

The entire first season of “Shogun” is available to stream on Hulu and Hulu On Disney+ in the U.S. and Disney+ in all other territories. 

Roger’s Take:  I loved the first season of “Shōgun”, though I’d love to see a continuation of the story; knowing that these next two seasons aren’t actually based on a well-known book, does make me a little more dubious, but I’m hoping the creative team takes its time to put together a story that works, not rushing it, just to get it out as soon as possible.  The reason why “Shōgun” was so good, was because they made the very best show they could, so I’ve little doubt they’ll not do it properly.

Are you looking forward to another two seasons of “Shōgun”?  Let me know on social media!