Shogun's explosive season finale wrapped up FX's adaptation of James Clavell's 1975 novel, and while the show was billed as an original series, it seems there may be plans to return for a second season.
Deadline reports that series star and producer Hiroyuki Sanada has inked a deal to return as Lord Yoshii Toranaga. While nothing official has been announced, Deadline notes that closing the deal "has been considered crucial to any plan to extend Shogun beyond its original installment."
There are "other elements" that still need to be worked out before, including the decision as to whether Shogun would be considered a limited series or a drama series going forward. Such a decision could impact the 2024 Emmy race.
There's also the major question as to what a second season of Shogun would look like. The limited series covered the entirety of James Clavell's 1975 novel; however, that was just one part of Clavell's "Asian Saga."
Clavell actually wrote six novels between 1962 and 1993 that "center on Europeans in Asia, and together they explore the impact on East and West of the meeting of these two distinct civilizations."
Although Shogun was the third book in the series to be written, it is technically the first in chronological order. It tells "a sprawling story set in Japan in the year 1600 at the dawn of a century-defining civil war." Based on the epic novel of feudal Japan, the FX series synopsis for Shogun reads:
The series follows Lord Yoshii Toranaga (producer Hiroyuki Sanada), who is fighting for his life as his enemies on the Council of Regents conspire against him. When a mysterious ship is found marooned in a nearby fishing village, its English pilot, John Blackthorne (Cosmo Jarvis), comes bearing secrets that could help Toranaga tip the scales of power and devastate the formidable influence of Blackthorne’s own enemies: the Jesuit priests and Portuguese merchants. Toranaga’s and Blackthorne’s fates become inextricably tied to their translator, Toda Mariko (Anna Sawai), a mysterious Christian noblewoman and the last of a disgraced line. While serving her lord amidst this fraught political landscape, Mariko must reconcile her newfound companionship with Blackthorne, her commitment to the faith that saved her, and her duty to her late father.
It's possible that a second season in the Shogun series could follow one of the other five stories from Cavell, although none of them act as a direct sequel, and do not feature the characters of Shogun.
Tapian, for instance, is the second story chronologically, but is set in Hong Kong in 1841. Shogun series creators Rachel Kondo and Justin Marks were previously asked by Collider about the possibility of adapting Tapain for television, to which they responded:
“I gotta say, apropos of nothing, we are really digging Tai-Pan . It’s a great book. I picked it up to just see, ‘Can he strike lightning twice?’ And it’s like, ‘Oh my god, he’s such a great writer that even this is great for entirely different reasons.” So, sure, maybe we’ll do Tai-Pan someday . It’s only a half-joke at this point, but who knows? I haven’t gotten to the end. But I think, truth be told, when it comes to Shōgun and those stories, it’s not that we wouldn’t, it’s just that if we did, it would have to be better than the book, and I don’t know if that story exists.”
Shogun has received near-perfect scores with a 99% on Rotten Tomatoes and an impressive 90% Audience Score. If we do get a second season of the series, would you want to see it expand upon the current story or adapt one of Clavell's other novels?