The Golden Globe awards took place this last weekend, and to the surprise of no one, FX's feudal Japan drama Shōgun took home several awards. The show won Best Drama Series, Hiroyuki Sanada (Yoshii Toranaga) won Best Drama TV Actor, Tadanobu Asano (Kashigi Yabushige) won Best TV Supporting Actor, and Anna Sawai (Toda Mariko) beat out House of the Dragon's Emma D'Arcy to take home the win for Best Drama TV Actress. Regardless of the competition, Shōgun was such a pitch perfect show that you'd have been crazy to bet against it.
Part of the reason Shōgun was so effective was that it told a complete, extremely powerful story; the show was designed as a limited series and covered the entirety of the classic 1975 novel by James Clavell. That's a huge advantage over a show like, say, Squid Game, which ended its second season on a massive cliffhanger to leave room for more episodes in the future.
But Shōgun was such a massive hit that FX eventually renewed it for two more seasons. And now, that advantage of telling a complete story has turned into an immense challenge. When the entirety of the source material has been covered, where do you go next? Showrunner husband-and-wife duo Justin Marks and Rachel Kondo are currently trying to answer that very question. They've been hard at work on Shōgun's future seasons, but it sounds like there's still more to figure out.
“Well, it’s ongoing,” Kondo told Variety about writing on future seasons. “We’re still trying. We haven’t given up. And I’m not sure what we can say.”
“We’re about six weeks from the end of the writers room,” added Marks.
It's not surprising to hear that work continues on future seasons of Shōgun. Out of all the television renewals of 2024, this was one that surprised many fans; I think it's always been a safe conclusion that any expansion of the series beyond Clavell's book was going to be a challenge.
That said, I do arch a brow at Variety repeatedly referring to "potential" future seasons of Shōgun in their write-up about their brief Golden Globes run-in with Kondo and Marks. The outlet also emphasizes that while Marks has signed an overall deal to develop more series for FX (including these "potential" future seasons of Shōgun) and star Hiroyuki Sanada has signed on to return as Toranaga, the network has "not yet given the show a formal renewal."
Do they know something we don't? Is it possible Marks and Kondo may not follow through with more Shōgun after all?
It's too early to tell. For now, all we can do is remain optimistic that work in the writers room goes well. If Marks, Kondo and the rest of the team can bring the same level of care and attention to detail to future seasons as they did to this first, it could be something truly unique and special. Plus, they're developing it in coordination with the James Clavell estate, so the author's spirit will live on in the work. And hey, if more Shōgun doesn't pan out, Clavell also has plenty of other books. Maybe Marks and Kondo will turn their attention to one of those?
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