Justin Marks and Rachel Kondo say that Shōgun Season 2 will be a “darker chapter” compared to the first season.
Speaking with The Hollywood Reporter, creators Marks and Kondo provided an update about the upcoming second and third seasons of Shōgun. Based on James Clavell’s 1975 novel of the same name, Shōgun was originally going to be a miniseries that ended after one season; however, FX and Hulu announced they were developing two new seasons of the acclaimed drama in May 2024.
What did Shōgun’s creators say about Seasons 2 and 3?
“There’s a lot of chaos but creative chaos, where we’re throwing everything that we have at the wall, seeing what sticks,” Kondo said of developing Shōgun’s forthcoming seasons. “It’s been exciting and nerve-wracking because, obviously, this is uncharted territory — we don’t have a roadmap, we just have history.”
Marks continued, “There’s a lot of great conspiracy theory in history, 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. 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.”
Producer Hiroyuki Sanada, who also plays Lord Yoshii Toranaga in the series, added, “We don’t have James Clavell’s novel anymore, but we learned his spirit and the taste of storytelling. All his DNA is in our bodies, I believe.”
Shōgun premiered on FX and FX on Hulu in February 2027. Along with Sanada, the series stars Cosmo Jarvis, Anna Sawai, Tadanobu Asano, Takehiro Hira, Tommy Bastow, and Fumi Nikaido.
Shōgun Season One is currently streaming on Hulu.