The much-anticipated FX limited series adaptation of Shōgun, the epic novel by James Clavell novel, is proving to live up to the hype and then some — it has pulled in 9 million views globally across Hulu, Disney+ and Star+ in its first six days of availability. In doing so, Shōgun beats out The Bear for the number one premiere of an FX series on Hulu in the U.S. (ahead of The Bear's Season 2 premiere).
The sprawling saga set in feudal Japan, complete with samurai, ninjas, exquisite fortresses and elaborately choreographed fight sequences, has quickly become a must-watch for the prestige cable channel FX, along with its streaming partner Hulu.
Variety notes that the viewership total — calculated as total stream time divided by runtime — also includes Hulu on Disney+. Under the Disney banner, Shōgun is also the number one scripted series premiere globally for Disney General Entertainment. It beat out The Kardashians Season 1, which is also about highly choreographed in-fighting set in exquisite palaces (in a sense).
FX clearly was hoping Shōgun would have the blockbuster feel and following of a Game of Thrones-esque, revered-literary-work-to-prestige-TV-drama adaptation, though one of the series' directors recently shot down such comparisons — nevertheless, the network appears to be getting its wish. As Variety notes, Shōgun has long been a passion project for FX head John Landgraf, who first greenlit the series over five years ago.
In addition to strong viewership numbers, the show has received substantial critical praise from the media, currently boasting a 99% critical approval rating on Rotten Tomatoes. Now it will be interesting to see whether Shōgun continues building an audience as further episodes drop, and/or whether or not it will become the next major cultural touchstone.
Follow Us
Subscribe
