Those looking forward to the next chapter of the Shogun will have to wait a little longer. The multiple Emmy-winning series, which caught everyone by surprise, was renewed by FX network for a second season in May, with the announcement that the new season will be set 10 years later.
More details have been teased by entertainment outlet Variety following the Disney+ originals preview at Hong Kong Disneyland Resort. At the event, the makers revealed they are aiming for a grander scale, unlike the first season, while explaining why the story will be set a decade later.
Justin Marks, who is the co-creator and executive producer, teased big battle sequences and a love story. “Part 2 is, I would say, two things. Like the first season, I think part two is a really sweeping, beautiful, and you’re never going to see a coming, entirely unexpected love story. It’s also a story of war and the cost of war. There are battle sequences that we’re putting together now in part two. I don’t think you’ve ever seen anything like this kind of scale, this kind of tragedy, and this kind of humanity,” he shared.
Marks understands viewers' concerns about shows that take a long time to release new seasons, as this is something that bothers him as a viewer, too. But he wants to see this as an opportunity to "rediscover" these characters.
“This show is going to take us a little while to produce. It’s not coming out one year later, and there’s this thing that drives me crazy when you watch a show that ended three years ago, and you get into season two and it’s like five minutes later,” he said. “We’re trying to use this jump as a way to come back to our characters again for the very first time, to see them, to see what’s changed in their lives over the course of the last 10 years, and to rediscover them.”
Originally planned only as a limited series, the historical drama, based on James Clavell's 1975 novel of the same name, broke records by winning 18 Emmy Awards last year, including 14 Creative Arts Emmys and four Primetime Emmys.
Shogun also had the distinction of becoming the first non-English-language series to win Best Drama. Its lead actors, Hiroyuki Sanada (also producer) and Anna Sawai, became the first Japanese actors to win Emmys. Frederick E.O. Toye, who directed four out of 10 episodes, won the Emmy for Best Directing for a Drama Series.