Will there actually be a Shōgun Season 2?!? Deadline broke news today that suggests FX is in the midst of making major moves to make a second season of the Hulu hit a reality. According to the trade, Shōgun star and producer Hiroyuki Sanada has inked a deal to return as Yoshii Toranaga in a potential second season. Even though Shōgun was initially designed as a limited series simply adapting James Clavell’s landmark 1975 novel of the same name, the series’s critical and commercial success opens the door for more. Not only that, but the series ends with Sanada’s lead character, Toranaga, becoming Shōgun, ushering in a fascinating period of peace…that did not come without some historic drama. (We’re looking at you, Fumi Nikaido, and your character, Lady Ochiba…)
Shōgun is a fictionalized account of the real historic events that ushered in Japan’s Edo Period, a time of great wealth, peace, and prosperity for the nation. Toranaga is a stand-in for Tokugawa Ieyasu, the revered Japanese warlord credited with bringing the dream of a unified Japan to fruition.
As Sanada told Decider back at Winter 2024 TCA, “Toranaga’s model, Ieyasu, stopped the war period and then created a peaceful era for about 260 years. That’s a big thing. That’s why he became a hero in Japan. So we need to show this story, his life to the world.”
But just because Ieyasu’s story is just getting started, that doesn’t necessarily mean the world needs more Shōgun. The story, written by James Clavell, ends right on the precipice of this great peace.
However, when Decider chatted with series creators Justin Marks and Rachel Kondo ahead of the Season 1 finale, they were coy with their potential plans for more Shōgun.
“We will answer very carefully, you know, just for a variety of reasons,” Marks said. “Are there other stories to tell of the characters who survived this show? Yes. Are there other stories to tell of leading up to things?”
Clavell’s novel teases that Toranaga plans on entering a strategic marriage with Lady Ochiba, as the real Ieyasu did with the real heir’s mother, Yodo-dono, or Lady Chacha. Let’s just say that although the Edo Period was one of peace, they didn’t exactly have a happily ever after. Similarly, there are other movers and shakers in this period we’ve already met and Clavell also seeded another political union, between Blackthorne (Cosmo Jarvis) and the courtesan Kiku (Yuka Kouri).
“The question is, are [these stories] any better than the book? Than what was told? And we don’t know,” Marks said. “And I like saying, ‘I don’t know,’ because it opens lots of doors to getting better.”
Now, it seems, FX is set on opening those doors.
Hiroyuki Sanada’s deal not only stokes hope for more Shōgun, but it also has the potential to upset key Emmys races in the months ahead. Until now, the 2023 WGA and SAG-AFTRA strikes’ affects had been most keenly felt in the Drama series categories. Ongoing productions were completely halted for months, while limited series began to flood major networks’ schedules. Prognosticators noted that the major Drama categories seemed wide open, opening the door for The Crown‘s lackluster final season to dominate a space otherwise only really occupied by HBO’s soapy fall drama, The Gilded Age.
Before Deadline’s report broke, it was also assumed that Shōgun‘s success made it yet another power player in the limited series categories. However, if FX does follow through with Shōgun Season 2, they may choose to submit the show and series stars like Hiroyuki Sanada, Cosmo Jarvis, Anna Sawai, and Todanobu Asano in contention for the Drama categories versus the planned Limited Series ones. As Deadline notes, these discussions are ongoing and the ultimate announcement could be tied to the deadline for Emmy submissions.
Either way, Sanada’s deal signals that we might be in for more feudal Japanese drama on Hulu…
