Shōgun, FX's historical fiction drama set in 17th century Japan, was the best TV show of 2024. Naturally, FX ordered a second season, which is tricky because the first season adapted the whole of James Clavell's novel Shōgun. The writers have run out of book. What are they to do?
They've been trying to figure that out. Last month, showrunners Justin Marks and Rachel Kondo said work was ongoing, but it didn't sound like they were certain a second season would truly happen. “We’re still trying. We haven’t given up. And I’m not sure what we can say," Kondo said. “We’re about six weeks from the end of the writers room,” added Marks.
They may have had a breakthrough since then, as star Hiroyuki Sanada told Variety that producers are aiming to start filming on season 2 in "the fall of this year":
"[T]he writers’ room is working so hard now. We’re going to have half [of the Season 1] cast remaining, and then half new cast coming. We are finding the best crew for next season now, so I’m excited."
Sanada's character, Lord Yoshii Toranaga, survived the first season, although not all the characters were so lucky. Like we said, there's no clear blueprint for what happens next in the story, but Shōgun does intersect with actual history, so Kondo and Marks can always use that as their guide.
Shōgun is actually only one of six books in James Clavell's "Asian Saga," each set in a different time period with a different set of characters. Before we got confirmation that FX wanted to move ahead with a direct follow-up up to the events of Shōgun, we thought maybe the network would want to adapt Clavell's other books instead. That would have solved the problem of having to work without the net of source material, but it would also require introducing an entirely new cast.
Ultimately FX opted for something less risky commercially, but more risky artistically. We'll see if their gamble pays off when the second season of Shōgun premieres. Assuming the cameras really do start rolling when Sanada says, that probably won't be until 2026 or even 2027.
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