FX’s Shogun has just been renewed for, not one, but two more seasons according to a new report from THR. The 10-episode series was originally billed as a ‘mini-series’, adapting the entirety of James Clavell’s seminal (and incredibly long) novel. Shogun‘s 10th episode closed the book on Clavell’s original story, leaving many to wonder where the series could go in future seasons, and has left even more wondering if the show should have been renewed in the first place.

Shogun has had a long and rocky road to fruition. It took 11 years for FX’s series to move from announcement to release, with the project experiencing a change in showrunners and a major relocation during that time. Co-creators Justin Marks and Rachel Kondo eventually managed to see the project through production, which was also impeded by the COVID pandemic and the joint WGA and SAG-AFTRA strikes, and release a show which has since become one of FX’s highest rated and most watched series ever. Shogun received rave reviews (with a near perfect 99% RT score) upon its debut in February and, following the finale, has quickly been tapped to dominate next year’s Emmy’s. Marks and Kondo partly attribute this success to Clavell’s incredible novel. Speaking to Town & Country before the show’s release, Justin Marks described Clavell as a “master storyteller.” The co-creator then went on to address the possibility of a second season (before THR’s announcement), saying:

“It’s gonna take some recovery to think about what will be next. But honestly, it’s hard because you don’t have a master storyteller to set the map for you. So that would be a tough one.”

– Justin Marks

It’s very easy to criticise FX’s decision to renew Shogun for two more seasons. Game of Thrones fans will immediately cast audiences back to 2019, when the show’s final season turned the fans against the show, killing a lot of momentum for future spin-offs and prequels (until House of the Dragon revitalised the franchise). Shogun fans are nervous that the same phenomenon will happen to their beloved series, especially considering the exceptional quality of FX’s adaptation, which was far greater than any of Clavell’s fans could have imagined. Shogun has two options for its new seasons. The series can either continue Yoshi Toranaga (Hiroyuki Sanada)’s story, creating an original narrative that delves into the historic 200 years of peace that followed Toranaga’s reign as Shogun. Or, FX, Marks, and Kondo can look ahead to Clavell’s other books, which are set in the same universe as Shogun, and bring the author’s prolific Asian Saga to life on screen as a seasonal anthology.

Let’s be honest here, the most likely option is that FX will continue with Toranaga and John Blackthorne (Cosmo Jarvis)’s stories. Season 1 has already instilled both characters with substantial moral complexity, and established a strong and twisted relationship between the pair, that it’s hard to not want to see them return to our screens. This option is also the most commercially viable. Toranaga and Blackthorne are already established characters that are synonymous with the series. The idea of either of these characters returning for a second season, regardless of what the actual plot may be, is almost guaranteed to rake in viewers. To completely move away from these characters, and that time period, would almost be commercial suicide, especially considering absolutely nothing in the show’s marketing gave any reference to the Asian Saga as a whole. That being said, nothing in the marketing mentioned a second or third season either, but here we are.

Marks and Kondo have also proven their creative talents within Clavell’s world, and have the credentials, experience, and skill to successfully create new seasons of Shogun without having the author’s blueprints. The pair have put extraneous effort into meticulously crafting Season 1, ensuring everything from the costumes, to the settings, as well as the weapons, and even the bowing is historically accurate. Across production on Season 1, the pair compiled all their notes on historical elements and accuracy in a gigantic manuscript (which the pair joked is nearly as long as Clavell’s entire novel), aptly dubbed their Bible. The pair even went so far as correcting some historical inaccuracies in Clavell’s books. Speaking at Winter 2024 TCA (via Decider), Rachel Kondo addressed one of the big changes FX’s series had to make to Clavell’s novel. “We all make mistakes in our presentation of what we’re doing in the moment and the research that Clavell had had was such that it was muskets, right?” Kondo continued, “And yet Japanese had already been introduced to muskets fifty years earlier.” Kondo and Marks, along with the show’s historical supervisor, Frederik Cryns, considered that Blackthorne brought numerous cannons with him on his boat. These then became the character’s mode of survival within Toranaga’s army. This correction is also responsible for one of the show’s bloodiest scenes (which is saying something considering its graphic depictions of violence) involving an ambush with cannons. Justin Marks described the method behind the scene, stating, “instead of firing muskets into their enemies, they would fire that chain shot and then we would have to deal with the fallout that occurred.” With these blueprints, Marks and Kondo already have the resources to ensure the same level of historical accuracy that made Season 1 so immersive. While it is still a tall task, the pair now only have to focus on crafting a story that justifies two more direct seasons of Shogun.

Were FX to take the risky path and adapt the Asian Saga as a seasonal anthology, it could make for one of the most intriguing, and unique TV series of all-time. Comprised of six books (including Shogun), the Asian Saga takes audiences across various locations and time periods in Asia, exploring the stories of loosely connected characters and examining the rise, fall, and consequences of Western colonialism. The series jumps between stories in Hong Kong during the First Opium War (1839), Japan following Toranaga’s rule, a WWII POW camp in Singapore, and Tehran in 1979. The seemingly dissonant set of stories are loosely connected by descended characters, which are primarily introduced in the Saga’s second novel, Tai-Pan.

Set in Hong Kong, Tai-Pan follows Dirk Straun, the head of a powerful Eastern Trading Company as he battles for control of Hong Kong against rival companies. The Struans become the connective glue within the anthology, as Dirk Struan’s descendants find themselves trapped and entangled in various stories across Asia, including interacting with the direct descendant of Yoshi Toranaga. As previously mentioned, pitching the Asian Saga as a concept to audiences is bonkers. After declaring Shogun to be a limited series, jumping ahead 240 years into the future in Season 2 will be a hard pill for many audiences to swallow. But to say it wouldn’t make for a truly unique viewing experience would be untrue.

The idea is also backed by FX’s previous successes creating popular seasonal anthologies, as well as the many others out there. The network is responsible for the Fargo series, based on the Coen Brother’s classic film. Each season of the show explores a new murder in Minnesota, with a new cast of characters each time. Other networks like HBO have also had tremendous success with their True Detective anthology. While many will agree that Season 1 (starring Woody Harrelson and Matthew McConaughey) is still the best, subsequent seasons have still been incredibly successful, critically and commercially.

Transforming FX’s Shogun into a seasonal anthology can also redeem the previous, less than stellar adaptations of Clavell’s Asian Saga. Many, especially American audiences, are aware of NBC’s 1980 Shogun miniseries, which starred Richard Chamberlain, Toshiro Mifune, and the voice of Orson Wells. The series was watched by nearly a third of all American households upon its release, and is weirdly considered responsible for the drastic rise in popularity of sushi restaurants across the United States. However, fewer people are aware of the Asian Saga adaptations that followed. 8 years later, NBC released Noble House starring Pierce Brosnan. The show was relatively popular, and moderately well received by critics, but it paled in comparison to NBC’s Shogun, and is entirely incomparable to FX’s version. Two years prior, Tai-Pan was also adapted into a feature film. However, the movie was critically panned, and flopped commercially. Following its release, acclaimed film critic Roger Ebert wrote, “it tells the saga of men who were larger than life, except for their brains,” in his scathing review – ultimately giving the film one star.

THR’s report didn’t provide any potential plot details for Seasons 2 or 3, stating that a writer’s room was currently being assembled. The full greenlighting of Seasons 2 and 3 is dependant on the state of the creative process after the writing staff meet this summer to discuss expanding the show beyond Clavell’s Shogun. The new seasons reportedly have the approval of the Clavell estate, with James Clavell’s daughter, Michaela, returning to executive produce the subsequent seasons. Justin Marks and Rachel Kondo are returning to oversee the new seasons. Hiroyuki Sanada, who starred in and produced Season 1 is also returning to produce Seasons 2 and 3. The article also refferenced a previous interview with Rachel Kondo following the show’s finale, showing that the creative team haven’t gone back on their previous admiration of Clavell’s novel. In the interview, Kondo said:

“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.”

– Rachel Kondo

Regardless of where Shogun goes in future seasons, it is hard to deny the impact the series has had on the modern TV landscape. Not only has the series been an exponential hit, it also managed to engross western audiences in a narrative lead by Japanese actors, with the majority of the show’s dialogue in Japanese with subtitles.

Shogun is available to stream on Hulu (US) and Disney+ (internationally).