Will there be a Shōgun season 2? Latest news and speculation

While it looked as though the series may not make a return after co-showrunners Rachel Kondo and Justin Marks said the future of the series was up in the air, it has now been confirmed that Shōgun will be returning for not just one, but two more seasons.

While production timing has not been confirmed, it has been confirmed that a writers’ room is being assembled and will begin this summer. All the main players are back for more as well, including Marks and Condo, as well as executive producer Michaela Clavell, and series star and producer Hiroyuki Sanada.

It's no major surprise to fans of the show, especially seeing as it went on to become FX's most watched show ever, based on global hours streamed. As of now, there's no word on what Clavell books the further two seasons could cover or who will be in the cast but we do know that FX, Hulu and the Estate of James Clavell are working together to provide us with more.

The 10th and final episode of Shōgun brought the adaptation of James Clavell's novel to a dramatic end, but what do we know about season 2 so far? Read on to find out.

Will there be a Shōgun season 2?

Yes! In fact, it has now been confirmed that Shōgun will return for seasons 2 and 3.

As of now, there's been no word on which Clavell novels the new seasons could be set to cover or whether they will waver from the original book material. What we do know, though, is that FX, Hulu and the James Clavell Estate are all working together so we can almost guarantee that the rest of the Asian Saga will be brought to the screen in some way.

The news comes as a welcome surprise to fans of the show, especially after co-showrunners Rachel Kondo and Justin Marks previously revealed they may not do any more Shōgun.

Co-creator Marks told The Hollywood Reporter: "I don’t know. I keep saying it’s like we want to let everyone be on the same page when it comes to the book.

"And hopefully now the TV audience and the book audience are on the same page with what the story is and where it resolves.

"I think if we had a story, if we could find a story, we would be open to it. But I don’t think that anyone ever wants to be out over their skis without a roadmap and everything. And it’s also just about, do people want more of it?"

He continued: "But it’s also about, not even topping the book, but, 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. Yeah, it’s a tough one."

Marks previously told THR that they think the show brings the original novel to a complete end.

He said: "We took the story to the end of the book and put a period at the end of that sentence. We love how the book ends; it was one of the reasons why we both knew we wanted to do it — and we ended in exactly that place.

"And I’ve been party to this in the past with shows like this, where you build a whole factory, and it only pumps out 10 cars and closes up shop. It’s a bummer.

"You know, one of our producers wrote a nearly 900-page instruction manual for how we do this show — almost as long as the book Shōgun itself. All of this infrastructural knowledge went into it."

When pushed as to whether that is a definitive 'no' on a season 2, Marks said: "Oh, that’s just our bodies talking. Like, do you want to have another kid right now?

"You know, we also made this show so long ago, because of the long tail of post-production on it. It’s not like a normal TV series, where if we were in a situation like this, promoting it, we wouldn’t just be in the writers' room already, we’d be on set shooting season 2 by now."

Marks also told Town & Country that he doesn't know about a season 2, saying: "It's gonna take some 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."

Shōgun season 2 release date speculation

Now that Shōgun season 2 has gotten the green light, we're almost certain that fans will have to practice a fair bit of patience - as the first season took quite a while to produce.

Speaking to Town & Country, co-showrunner Marks admitted that they "spent five years on this and it [felt] like 30 in terms of just that level of detail that you have to put in every single day".

Initially intended to be filmed in Japan, the series was actually shot in Canada due to the pandemic. Now, with those restrictions not in place, could the series move to being shot in Japan?

Possibly, but as Marks has previously said, if season 2 were to go ahead, the season would've been in its pre-production phases by now to cut down on any major time gaps. As of now, a production schedule has not been confirmed, but we do know that the writer's room for Shōgun season 2 will kick off this summer.

Who could return for Shōgun season 2?

As for who could possibly return in season 2 of Shōgun, there has been a fair share of deaths and bloody battles. But really, episode 9 delivered quite the plot twist with the death of Mariko, meaning that Anna Sawai would definitely not be back for a second season.

Lest we also forget that Lord Toranaga's son Nagakado (Yuki Kura) also died earlier in the series while fighting his uncle Saeki. Similarly, in episode 8, we also bid farewell to general Toda Hiromatsu (Tokuma Nishioka).

We do know that Hiroyuki Sanada is already on board for season 2 development so does that mean we haven't seen the last of Lord Toranaga? We're not sure just yet as the actor is also a producer on the series and so, could purely be returning in a behind-the-scenes capacity.

The cast we'd expect to make a return for season 2 include:

• Hiroyuki Sanada as Lord Yoshii Toranaga
• Cosmo Jarvis as John Blackthorne
• Tadanobu Asano as Kashigi Yabushige
• Hiroto Kanai as Kashigi Omi
• Takehiro Hira as Ishido Kazunari
• Moeka Hoshi as Usami Fuji
• Shinnosuke Abe as Toda Hirokatsu
• Yuka Kouri as Kiku
• Fumi Nikaido as Ochiba no Kata
• Ako as Daiyoin Lady Iyo
• Yasunari Takeshima as Muraji
• Toshi Toda as Sugiyama
• Hiro Kanagawa as Igurashi
• Junichi Tajiri as Uejiro
• Néstor Carbonell as Vasco Rodrigues
• Tommy Bastow as Father Martin Alvito
• Nobuya Shimamoto as Nebara Jozen
• Yoriko Dōguchi as Kiri No Kata
• Yuki Kedoin as Takemaru
• Mako Fujimoto as Shizu No Kata
• Haruno Niiyama as Natsu No Kata
• Hiromoto Ida as Kiyama ukon Sadanaga
• Takeshi Kurokawa as Ohno Harunobu
• Yuko Miyamoto as Gin

What could a potential Shōgun season 2 be about?

As for whether or not the second series will directly follow on from the events of Shōgun season 1, it remains to be confirmed.

We do know that the series is the third in Clavell's book series, and is regularly read as the first, meaning there are five other novels that could be adapted as source material for more seasons.

The second novel that follows on from Shōgun is Tai-Pan, which was published in 1966 and is regularly seen as Clavell's "tour-de-force".

It's already been adapted as a TV miniseries in 1980, and follows European and American traders who move into Hong Kong following the British victory of the first Opium War and the seizure of Hong Kong.

There are plenty of relationship dynamics, families and characters to get acquainted with in Tai-Pan, but whether or not the series will take that turn remains a mystery for now.

If Shōgun was to carry on directly from the ending of season 1, it would mean more of a creative licence from the team behind the series, as the show brings the book's ending to life in quite a final way.

Shōgun is available to stream on Disney Plus. You can sign up to Disney Plus for £7.99 a month or £79.90 a year now.

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