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There will be officially more Shōgun seasons from FX and Hulu, according to The Hollywood Reporter.
Both networks, owned by Disney, announced Thursday that they're partnering with author James Clavell's estate to develop two more Shōgun seasons. The company said that the two season are currently in development. This means that the two-season renewal is dependent on what the creatives come up with.
The producers are currently assembling a writers room, which will open in the summer to discuss how they would continue Shōgun past Clavell's novel. The Shōgun team, including co-creators, executive producers and writers Justin Marks and Rachel Condo, EP Michaela Clavell and star and producer Hiroyuki Sanada are all part of the development group.
Shōgun “expansion”
Shōgun wrapped the first season in late April and is FX's most-watch show ever, based on the worldwide hours streamed. The 10-episode series is available to binge-watch on Hulu.
The news of the show's season expansion comes after leaked reports said that FX was considering the show's future beyond a limited series. The leak happened just in time for the deadline for the Emmy submissions to the Television Academy. Shōgun needed to decide whether it would compete as a continuing series or as a limited series. FX has confirmed that it has submitted the show under as a drama.
Sanada has signed what is described as an “if-come” deal. This means that if the network successfully develops new seasons and greenlights the second and third seasons, the actor will reprise his role in the series.
Shōgun, currently promoted as a limited series, is FX's most expensive scripted show ever. The network spent almost 10 years developing the series, based on Clavell's 1975 novel of the same name. It's the book's second series adaptation. The first was NBC's 1980 miniseries starring Richard Chamberlain and Toshiro Mifune.
When the series debuted in late February, it garnered 9 million streaming views worldwide across Disney+, Hulu and Star+. Disney announced in March that those figures were the best global launch to date for a general entertainment scripted series. This excludes those that aren't under the Disney Branded TV, Marvel, National Geographic, Pixar or Star Wars banners.
FX CEO John Landgraf told The Hollywood Reporter in February that he would open to create expensive programming if Shōgun succeeded.
“It depends on how successful it is and whether there's an appetite for it. Ultimately, the audience gets to decide whether it's something they want. I would hope if we were able do something like that it wouldn't take 11 years. So no, I can't imagine spending another 11 years working on something else but working hard on something to get it right and make it big and detailed as well as really deep in terms of character and the human condition, as long as there's appetite for that in the viewers, I think it'll be possible at times to do that kind of work.”
After the show's last episode aired, series co-creators Marks and Kondo sat down with THR for an interview.
Marks explained, “I think if we had a story, if we could find a story, we would be open to it. But I don't think that anyone ever wants to be out over their skis without a roadmap and everything. And it's also just about, do people want more of it? But it's also about, not even topping the book, but, how do you even equal the roadmap that Clavell laid out?”
“And I don't know if it's possible. I don't know if Clavell could have done it either. That's probably why he moved on to other books too, right? He knew what he had done. Yeah, it's a tough one,” he continued.
Sanada added, “We've been talking about how the story can continue since we started shooting, but who knows.”
This is incredibly presumptuous of me, but let me try to answer Marks' first question: Do people want more of it? Yes. People do want more of it. Me. I'm people.
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The Asian Saga
As for topping or equaling Clavell's roadmap? Let me lay that out. I believe Marks may be referring to the Asian Saga, which is what the author's six novels are called collectively. The term was first applied to Shōgun when it was published.
Shōgun is the third novel in the Asian Saga. The first two are King Rat and Tai-Pan, published in 1962 and 1966, respectively. Shōgun was was followed by 1981's Noble House, 1986's Whirlwind and 1993's Gai-Jin.
If we arrange the books through its own chronology, Shōgun, which is set in feudal Japan in the 1600s, is the first book in the series. Then we move more than two centuries later to 1841 in Hong Kong for Tai-Pan. We then move 20 years later, 1862 back to Japan, in Gai-Jin.
Fast forward to 80 years later to 1945 Singapore in a Japanese POW camp for King Rat. A small 18-year time jump and we're back in 1963 Hong Kong again for Noble House. And one more time skip, 16 years later, and we're on the final stretch, in 1979 Iran for Whirlwind. For the last book, there's what's considered a novella — even though it's 598 pages — Escape.
If the writers want to follow Clavell's road map, the next project wouldn't be about Shōgun. It wouldn't even be set in Japan. However, if they producers have a deal with the Clavell estate, then they have a rich supply of at least two epic series.
I'm making my case for Shōgun's season 2 and 3
There's a reason why I laid all these novels out, because if we're talking about Clavell's road map, then this is it. However, I'm going to make my case for how the writers can continue writing Toranaga's story and completely ignore the Asian Saga.
I've actually written about where the writers can go for season two. However, I have a new idea now that we could be getting two more seasons. Hear me out: for season two, instead of moving forward, it could be a prequel of Toranaga's life. That means we get to see Kuroda (based on Oda Nobunaga) and The Taiko (based on Toyotomi Hideyoshi) together with Toranaga. Historically speaking, they are the three Great Unifiers.
Season 3 would start where we left off in season one. And that includes the Battle of Sekigahara. If we have enough time, we could even get to see Siege of Osaka, the event that finally makes Toranaga the Shōgun.
