Plot details, returning characters, potential time jumps, premiere dates, and other theories about the epic FX historical series.
What Do We Know About the second season of Shogun? More thank you may think. After a critically acclaimed run as a limited series, FX is bringing the Japan-set epic drama for two more storytelling runs. With casting, set photos, and the official synopsis, we know quite a bit about what to expect from the second season, so let’s jump in and discuss.
There will be a total of three seasons
Based on the 1975 novel by James Clavell, Shogun the series ends in the same place that the book does. If you have watched the finale, you know it closes abruptly, leaving a lot of room for expansion of the story. Series creators Rachel Kondo and Justin Marks have said they have worked with Clavell’s estate on where the story could go next and said, “The third season is 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.”
Season Two could head into the 17th Century
The ending of Shogun’s first season wrapped with on-screen text that explained that Lord Toranaga, played by Hiroyuki Sanada and based on the real-life Lord Tokugawa, consolidated power over the course of fifteen years and then aimed to turn over his regime to his son, Hidetada. He remained friends with William Adams, the real-life version of John Blackthorne, played by Cosmo Jarvis. This leads to a rebellion and a massive siege of Osaka Castle, all of which could be fodder for the second season. So, the range of 1600 through 1616 could be the focus for the sophomore chapter of the show, with the third season following Blackthorne’s return to his homeland.
There could be a massive time jump
Novelist James Clavell wrote Shogun as part of an epic series known as the Asian Saga. The third book published in the six-novel series, Shogun, is the first entry in the sprawling story chronologically. The next book, Tai-Pan, is set in Hong Kong in 1841, which would be an unlikely choice for continuing a series already titled Shogun, but the third novel, Gai-Jin, is set in Japan in the mid-19th century. That sprawling novel comprises over a thousand pages of source material but would be great for a separate series.
James Clavell left ideas for further stories in his saga
Like many authors before him, Clavell had more ideas than time to develop them. Working with producer Michaela Clavell, some concepts could be brought in to flesh out the direct continuation of the Shogun storyline. We did get a glimpse of an elderly John Blackthorne in the final episode of the first season, so decades of material could be blended together for this second season.
Four actors are confirmed to return for Season Two
Series star and producer Hiroyuki Sanada has spent years wanting to make a faithful adaptation of Shogun. Now that his dream has been realized, you better believe he will be front and center for the second chapter. Yoshii Toranaga is a fan-favorite character, and Sanada will be accompanied by some of his on-screen compatriots in Cosmo Jarvis as John Blackthorn, Takehiro Hira and Ishido Kazunari, and Fumi Nikaido and Ochiba no Kata. Many others could reprise their roles, so expect more details as the scripts develop. While unlikely, we could see Anna Sawai’s Lady Mariko and Tadanobu Asano’s Yabushige come back in the form of flashbacks, but that remains to be confirmed.
Season Two will not premiere until at least 2026
It sounds far away, but with the script development stage still in the early going, it will be a long road towards the next chapter of Shogun. Since Shogun was developed as a limited series with no guarantee of further episodes, no development took place until April 2024. Due to the scale of the storytelling needed and the production quality we saw in the first season, cameras would be virtually impossible to start rolling until sometime in 2025. Post-production would then mean we won’t see the return of these characters on screen until the following year. But, with tons of awards coming their way, FX may expedite season two. As series co-creators Kondo and Marks have said, the stories must be right for the story to continue, so that bar may keep us waiting for some time.
Stay tuned to JoBlo.com as we learn more about seasons Two and Three of Shogun and all of your other favorite shows. What do you expect to see in the upcoming season of Shogun? Let us know in the comments, click like, and subscribe to follow all of our latest original videos.