Shōgun’s Hiroyuki Sanada has given an update on the show’s second season, saying he wants it to bridge the “big wall” between East and West.
Shōgun depicts Japan in the year 1600, with some labelling it early on as “the new Game of Thrones”. In it, Sanada’s Lord Yoshii Toranaga is fighting for his life as his enemies unite against him, when a mysterious European ship is found marooned in a nearby village, where the character of John Blackthorne (Cosmo Jarvis) is introduced.
Based on the 1975 novel of the same name by James Clavell, the show was overseen by the husband-and-wife creative team of Rachel Kondo and Justin Marks, the latter of whom was a co-writer of Top Gun: Maverick. The ten-episode series was broadcast on Hulu and FX in the US, while UK viewers were able to watch it via Disney+.
It was confirmed in May, shortly after the show completed in first season, that two more seasons were now in development, with writers’ rooms being assembled.
Despite already covering the bulk of the narrative arc of Clavell’s original novel, FX said they would be working with the writer’s estate to piece together the action for seasons two and three.
It does not mean that the two new seasons have been officially commissioned, as that will depend on the progress made in the writers’ room to the satisfaction of all involved.
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Sanada, however, has given a clear indication that he believes the show will be continuing, telling Deadline that “we are hoping” to start shooting the second season “sometime next year”.
The actor explained that he had not considered a season two while making the first, due to the limited nature of the original source, but as he is also a producer on the show, his perspective is now different.
“When I started living in LA 20 years ago, one of my missions was, I felt some big wall between East and West at that time,” he explained. “So, in our generation, I want to break this wall, and then create the bridge for the next generation. That’s my mission.”
“And now, we’ve got this big success, and a great opportunity to create more seasons. Why would I stop?”
“So, we don’t have any novels anymore, but it means for the writers a kind of freedom,” he added. “We have history. We have real models, and we know what happened. So many episodes are there in the history. So, I hope the writers will enjoy that freedom. These kind of things are already in our DNA, I believe.”
The show leads the way with this year’s Emmy nominations, picking up an impressive 25 nods in total, ahead of nearest competitor The Bear on 23.
As for Sanada, he is reportedly in talks to star in the upcoming live-action film adaptation of Ghost Of Tsushima.