Is Shōgun Show Done? What the Team Said So Far
FX’s Shōgun was intended as a mini-series, but after earning 9 million views during its first week on streaming, maybe they will be pulling a White Lotus. The possibilities are almost endless with those numbers. Based on a book of the same name by James Clavell, the show follows a fictionalized 17th-century Japanese leader, Lord Yoshii Toranaga, who fights to survive as his enemies team up against him. However, if the series creators would like to continue on with a second season, they’d be forced to create new storylines instead of building on the story from its only book. FX has not confirmed no denied a second season. Before we start freaking out about the possibility of the future (even when it’s a general non-Shōgun related concern), here’s what the cast and crew have said so far on a potential but not likely another season.
Co-creator and showrunner Justin Marks told The Direct that the season one finale wraps up “exactly where the book ends.” He explained to The Hollywood Reporter that it took almost five years to complete Shōgun, so if they had plans for a season two, they’re very far behind: “We also made this show so long ago, because of the long tail of postproduction 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 two by now.”
Michaela Clavell, executive producer and daughter of James Clavell, is slightly more hopeful that her father’s televised legacy will live on; she told The Direct: “The audience will let us know whether there’s, there is their appetite for that. We shall see. It’s a great question. I wish I knew the complete answer, but I don’t.
Editors Maria Gonzales and Aika Miyake told ComicBook.com that when they were wrapping up the show, there were no “serious plans” for another season. Gonzales explains, “I think that’s kind of where we’re at still. I’m not sure if it will happen. Obviously, it’s out of our hands; we’re the last people [to know].” Miyake adds: “Personally, I want to see Season 2! … There’s definitely plenty to build on, for sure.”
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