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Japanese actress Anna Sawai recently spoke with The Hollywood reporter about her role in the hit FX samurai epic series Shōgun and whether or not there would be a second season.
Shogun's pilot episode garnered 9 million streaming views worldwide both on Disney+ and Hulu when it premiered in February. It had higher numbers than the streaming platforms' chart-topping premieres of its mainstays The Bear and Fargo. And its numbers are inching higher as more episodes are released.
Shōgun: novel, 1980 miniseries, FX streaming series
This is the second series adaptation of James Clavell's best-selling historical novel published in 1975. The first one was a television miniseries in 1980 which starred Richard Chamberlain and Toshiro Mifune.
The story follows three main characters loosely based on actual historical figures: John Blackthorne (Cosmo Jarvis), the English sailor sailing on the Dutch vessel marooned in Japan (or the Japans as it was called by Westerners at in 1600s); Lord Yoshii Toranaga (Hiroyuki Sanada), a powerful daimyo and a member of the Council of Regents; and Lady Mariko Toda (Sawai), a samurai by birth tasked with translating for both Toranaga and Blackthorne.
Blackthorne is thought to be loosely modeled against the real-life 17th century English navigator William Adams who is known to be the first Englishman to set foot in Japan.
Toranaga was written based on Tokugawa Ieyasu, founder and the first shōgun of the Tokugawa Shogunate, which ruled Japan from 1603 until the 1868 Meiji Restoration. He is more famously known as one of three “Great Reunifiers” of the country, along with his former lord Oda Nobunaga as well as Toyotomi Hideyoshi.
Toda was modeled after Tama Akechi, also known as Gracia Hosokawa, when she got married and converted to Catholicism. In the series, she mentions her father's name Akechi Jinsai. Gracia became a political hostage of Ishida Mitsunari and was instrumental in the decisive Battle of Sekigahara. Much of Lady Mariko's background and storyline is taken from that of Gracia's.
Both the novel and the 1980 series present Blackthorne or Anjin, as the Japanese call him, the word for pilot or navigator, as the protagonist. The story was told in his viewpoint. The FX series, however, is told from many viewpoints, but is focused more on the Japanese characters.
When Sawai was asked if there's a possibility of a second season, she replied, “Well, the story of James [Clavell's] novel does finish with our season one. But the book is based lightly on Japanese history, so if they wanted to continue it, our history keeps going. So I’m sure they could try to figure out something.”
If you haven't read the novel or seen the 1980 series, skip this part because SPOILER ALERT.
In both the book and the series, the story ends when Toranaga is victorious over Ishido. Lady Mariko sacrifices herself in service to her lord and leaves Blackthorne a bit of money. Toranaga also gives him men to help build a new ship.
The last chapter reveals Toranga's inner thoughts: that he has a lot to learn from the foreigner and believes it's his karma to never leave Japan. He also believes that it is his karma to become shōgun. In the 1980 series, Toranaga is offered the title by the Emperor, which he then receives with “reluctance.”
SPOILER DONE
Shōgun second season: How is it possible?
If the show were to have a second season, it would deal with how Toranaga creates his shogunate. And if the showrunners were to mirror Tokugawa's, the storyline would shift to how he creates his shogunate.
In history, Tokugawa voluntarily abdicated three years after his appointment as shōgun. However, he remained in power until he died in 1616. He also implemented the bakuhan system, a set of rules that were designed to make sure that the daimyo (essentially warlords, or what his title was before he rose to become shōgun) and samurai do not grow in power to threaten him.
For his part, Adams (or Miura Anjin as he became known) ended up becoming one of Tokugawa's key advisor. While he was eventually allowed to return to England, he decided to stay in Japan. He also returned to life at sea and served as a captain to four expeditions to Southeast Asia.
It would be fascinating to see how the Shōgun cast and crew would present that. While there are quite a few Japanese shows and movies that are set in the Tokugawa Shogunate period, it would be very interesting to see another jidaigeki (Japanese for period drama) made the way Shōgun has. And by that I mean a large budget and more accessible to audiences outside Japan.
