The devastating connection the Shōgun finale has to author James Clavell's family
Michaela Clavell, the daughter of Shōgun author James Clavell, explains how a scene from the finale relates to her family's real-life history.
By Dan Selcke
Yesterday, the world weeped bitter tears as they watched the series finale of Shōgun, FX's adaptation of James Clavell's 1975 novel about war in feudal Japan. The show has been celebrated back to front for its authenticity, its restraint, its beauty, and its devastating emotional impact. The finale socked us right in the gut. We're sad there won't be more, but happy to have experienced it.
One of the most powerful scenes occurs towards the end of the episode when John Blackthorne (Cosmo Jarvis) — the Englishman who arrived in Japan in the first episode — reunited with Usami Fuji (Moeka Hoshi), his former consort. These two started the show at odds, but even though they didn't speak the same language, a bond formed over time. In their final scenes together, Blackthorn and Fuji go to a bay where they scatter the ashes of Fuji's baby, who was killed in the series premiere. Blackthorne also has a cross that belonged to Mariko (Anna Sawai), who died in the penultimate episode. They release that into the bay as well.
As it ends up, this scene has a special significance for the Clavell family. James Clavell's daughter Michaela Clavell is a credited producer on the show, and she was present when they shot this sequence. She explained what it meant to her on the official Shōgun podcast. "My sister and I went up with my daughter to visit the set and watch them shoot some of the last episodes," she said. "And one of the last scenes is Fuji and Blackthorne sprinkling the ashes of Fuji's baby and Mariko's cross - out in the bay, the bay where I grew up, and where my father's ashes were sprinkled. So imagine our surprise when we, 40 years later, are shooting in that same bay, on a beach where I grew up playing on. You can't make this up!"
"It was such an extraordinary experience, to be there for such a complete circle of life moment. They rarely happen so perfectly, but this one did. And that scene brought tears so our whole family's eyes - there wasn't a dry eye in the house. It was magical. And my hope is that the people watching this see the same beauty - dark and light in all of it - the story, the landscape. It was so complex and so beautiful."
Yes, Fuji sprinkled the ashes of her child in the same bay where the ashes of James Clavell — the man who wrote Shōgun in the first place — were sprinkled years before; James Clavell died in 1994. You'd think that scene couldn't be any more powerful, and then you learn this.
Shōgun adapts the entirety of James Clavell's novel, so it's unlikely we'll ever get a direct sequel. However, the author did write other books dealing with similar subject matter, so perhaps FX or Hulu will think about adapting those:
dark. Next. Shōgun chooses grief over violence in its haunting finale, "A Dream of a Dream". Shōgun chooses grief over violence in its haunting finale, "A Dream of a Dream"
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h/t Reddit