Shōgun season 2: key information
– Renewed for two more seasons in May
– Writers room being assembled, but no confirmed filming start date or launch date
– Unsurprisingly, no trailer has been released yet
– Hiroyuki Sanada is the only actor confirmed to be returning from season 1
– Other cast members yet to be revealed
– Unclear where the story will go as James Clavell’s full novel was covered in season 1
Want to know everything about Shōgun season 2 in light of its Emmy 2024 success? You’re not alone. Interest in the critically-acclaimed series has shot up again following its multiple award wins at this year’s ceremony, which took place on September 15. And, with a second season officially in development, FX’s TV adaptation of James Clavell’s 1975 novel of the same name is sure to secure even more gongs upon its return.
In the meantime, we do we know about Shōgun‘s next outing on the small screen? Below, we’ve rounded up the latest intel we can find on the Hulu and Disney Plus show, including its likely cast, potential plot, whether there’ll be a third season, and when we think season 2 could make its debut. Full spoilers follow for Shōgun season 1, so proceed at your own risk.
Shōgun season 2 release date prediction
Shōgun season 2 doesn’t have an official release date yet, but we know it’s on the way. That’s because FX, the Disney-owned studio behind its TV adaptation, confirmed that its record-breaking retelling of Shōgun was surprisingly getting two more seasons in mid-May. That’s not a complete shock, either, considering Shōgun set a new record on Hulu and Disney Plus when its first season debuted in late February.
What is surprising is that it’s coming back at all. Sure, its popularity means a renewal was always on the cards, but Shōgun‘s first season covered 99% of the story in James Clavell’s book, so there’s no more source material for FX’s series to pull from. Like Game of Thrones‘ seventh and eighth seasons, then, Shōgun is entering uncharted territory – from a narrative standpoint – from this point on.
That’s a discussion for later, though. Right now, is there any word on when Shōgun season will start filming? Speaking to Variety in July, FX boss John Landgraf revealed co-creators Rachel Kondo and Justin Marks were “happily at work” in the writers room, with plenty of ideas (see below) being thrown around.
Justin Marks details the progress creating the new #Shogun seasons: “We’re in the writers’ room…We’re like 47 days in right now. We’ve got three outlines that we’re really excited about; we’re about to add the fourth. Scripts will come soon.” https://t.co/OwvzFOEqA5 pic.twitter.com/zWHj0rjkVaSeptember 15, 2024
As for when it may enter full production, Landgraf said the plan was to start shooting “relatively early next year”, although that’ll depend whether the scripts have been completed. Speaking to The Hollywood Reporter (THR), Hiroyuki Sanada, who plays Lord Yoshii Toranaga, also suggested “part of” season 2 might be filmed in Japan. Principal photography on season 1 took place in Canada due to the pandemic and the fact its natural scenery was a near-perfect stand-in for feudal Japan.
Even if season 2 starts shooting in early 2025, it’ll be a while before it’s released. Landgraf said season 1 took almost 200 days (or almost seven months) to film. With plenty of post-production work to carry out after filming wraps, we aren’t likely to see Shōgun return until mid-2026 at the earliest.
Shōgun season 2 trailer: is there one?
No. If our release date prediction proves correct, there won’t be a trailer for Shōgun season 2 until early 2026, either. We’ll update this section when one is released.
Shōgun season 2 cast: likely and rumored
Major spoilers follow for Shōgun season 1.
Shōgun season 2’s cast is an unknown quantity right now. Indeed, there’s only been one actor who’s confirmed to be returning from its award-winning first season so far:
- Hiroyuki Sanada as Lord Yoshii Toranaga
If Shōgun season 2 is a direct continuation of the story told in its forebear (more on this shortly), there are other big-name players who may return, too. That includes Cosmo Jarvis as John Blackthorne, Takehiro Hira as Lord Ishido Kazunari, Tommy Bastow as Father Martin Alvito, Fumi Nikaido as Lady Ochiba no Kata, and Hiroto Kanai as Kashigi Omi.
Jarvis, for one, isn’t sure if Blackthorne will return, though. Speaking to Vanity Fair after the season 1 finale, he said: “Blackthorne totally preoccupied and consumed me, and had for so long. When it came to the final shot, it was just horrific, because it’s only then that I suppose Blackthorne had to be left behind and all of these adventures had to be left behind. And it was just kind of sad, you know? I suppose in a way it was relieving, but also, then you’re just another unemployed actor, and you don’t know what’s going to come next.”
Two vitally important characters who won’t be back are Anna Sawai’s Lady Toda Mariko and Tadanobu Asano’s Kashigi Yabushige. The former sacrificed herself to save Blackthorne and Toranaga’s consorts from a shinobi explosive blast in season 1 episode 9, while Yabishige committed seppuku over his constant betrayals.
It’s possible Sawai’s Mariko could return in flashback sequences – Sanada telling THR: “Hopefully we can work together again, but who knows” – but that’s dependent on season 2’s plot. Speaking of which…
Shōgun season 2 story speculation
Full spoilers follow for Shōgun‘s first season.
Surprising no-one, Shōgun season 2’s plot is up in the air. That’s because, as previously mentioned, there’s no more literary material to fall back on.
There are numerous directions, though, that it could go in. For starters, season 2 could focus on another novel in Clavell’s Asian Saga book series. Indeed, following the show’s announcement, Deadline reported there is “no information on source material, whether the new seasons will stay within the Shōgun universe or will also draw from the other books in Clavell’s Asian Saga”. However, considering none of those novels continue to follow the life and story of Lord Yoshii Toranaga – who’s based on the real-life Japanese leader Tokugawa Ieyas – and that Sanada is returning as this character, it’s incredibly unlikely that another of Clavell’s works will form the basis for season 2’s main narrative.
‘SHOGUN’ has won 18 Emmys, an all-time record for a single season of TV.• Best Drama• Best Directing• Best Sound Mixing• Best Sound Editing• Best Picture Editing• Best Cinematography• Best Period Costumes• Best Main Title Design• Best Production Design• Best… pic.twitter.com/kVrsb8KRRcSeptember 16, 2024
So, where could season 2 go from a story perspective? The short answer is: we don’t know. Thanks to some teasing from Sanada and one of the best Hulu shows‘ creators, however, we have some vague ideas.
On the showrunner front, Kondo and Marks are extremely keen to retain the look and feel of Clavell’s literature in future installments. “We’re trying to study his [Clavell’s] process of curation,” Kondo told THR. “How did he curate, which events, which characters, which characters can you conveniently combine – those sorts of things that kind of allow you to make something new. There’s a lot of chaos but creative chaos, where we’re throwing everything that we have at the wall, seeing what sticks. It’s been exciting and nerve-wracking because, obviously, this is uncharted territory – we don’t have a roadmap, we just have history.”
“There’s a lot of great conspiracy theory in history,” Marks added. “[There’s a lot of different theories about ‘Oh, it was said that this went on, but this really went on,’ and those little darker corners are what we’ve really enjoyed exploring.”
Sanada largely agreed with his fellow executive producers, but opined that there needed to be some form of Western world influence – mainly from an outsider viewpoint – to help shape things moving forward. “I want to keep the taste of the novel and respect the novel,” he told Forbes. “But also, we want to create an original script freely. We need fresh ideas as Japanese people, including me, who watch period movies and TV so much [because those images of Japanese culture] are more fixed and narrower, I believe. So, I need fresh ideas from Western eyes for the script.”
If Shōgun season 2 acts as a direct follow-up to what’s come before, there are some dangling story threads that need to be addressed. For one, Toranaga’s ongoing feud and Ishido needs to be explored further before it reaches its endgame with the Battle of Sekigahara. That tentpole set-piece was only briefly teased in season 1’s finale, too, so we’d hope for a full-scale, bloody fight to take place before Shōgun‘s story is wrapped up.
Then there’s Toranaga’s revelation that he purposefully sunk the Erasmus – Blackthorne’s ship – to not only prevent his return to Europe, but also coerce Blackthorne into salvage its remains, before rebuilding it and making a full armada for Toranaga’s use. Providing Jarvis returns as the character, we suspect Blackthorne won’t be happy (that’s understatement of the year right there) when he learns about this. Lady Ochiba isn’t likely to be pleased if she finds out that Toranaga used Lady Mariko’s death as a way to coax the former into severing allegiances with Lord Ishido, either.
Those issues notwithstanding, among the other problems Toranaga also has to deal with are the Portuguese merchants and rise of Christianity in his home nation. Clearly, there’s plenty more ground to cover with Shōgun‘s morally complex cast and world, so here’s hoping they’re examined further over the next two seasons.
How many more seasons of Shōgun will there be?
Shōgun season 2 won’t be the end of the road. As we’ve said a few times already, we know two more seasons have been confirmed, but what will Shōgun season 3 be about? Speaking to THR, Marks explained how they’re approaching this duo of seasons: “The third season is really an ending. We know where it starts, and we know where it ends, and we know who is there on that journey. We’re just focusing on part two right now to really make sure we can get to that point. But part two is, as second chapters go, kind of a darker chapter.”
Sounds ominous. Regardless, there’s no word on whether seasons 2 and 3 will be shot back to back (just another The Bear season 3 and The Bear season 4 reportedly were in early to mid-2023). It may be in FX’s best interests, though, to do this, as long as the dual seasonal shoot doesn’t take two years to film. After all, FX/Disney, plus the series’ fanbase, will want one of the best Disney Plus shows‘ final season to arrive before 2030, so let’s pray it does so.
For more Shōgun coverage, watch one of these three great series before Shōgun season 2 is released. Alternatively, read our Disney Plus guides on Daredevil: Born Again, X-Men 97 season 2, and Star Wars: Skeleton Crew.
