Ever since Game of Thrones became an unstoppable juggernaut for HBO in the 2010s, every studio and network has hoped desperately to have some kind of answer to the fantasy epic. Netflix had their attempt at a Thrones-clone with The Last Kingdom, while Prime Video dipped its toes into fantasy with both The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power and The Wheel of Time. Many have tried, but none have fully succeeded. On the flipside, HBO just kept the train going with multiple Game of Thrones spinoffs to further maintain their grip on big-budget dramas (plus Harry Potter is coming soon).
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Disney has never quite attempted to compete with Game of Thrones, given the show’s adult-centric tone, but they actually have a series that can fully compete with the HBO titan. When Shogun first premiered on the Disney-owned FX, the period drama quickly revealed itself to be actual competition for HBO’s fantasy series. Though it has no dragons to speak of, Shogun made a name for itself immediately by being an expensive period drama with gorgeous costumes, elegant sets, with intriguing plot threads that crossed magnificent characters, and battles that immediately rivaled Game of Thrones. When it aired, Shogun appeared to be a one-and-done limited series, but now it’s coming back, and new details have finally emerged.
Shogun Season 2 Confirms New Details, Including a Time Jump
FX has confirmed new details about Shogun Season 2 as part of The Walt Disney Company Asia Pacific Disney+ Originals Preview, revealing new cast members, plot details, and when production will commence. Newcomers for Shogun Season 2 include Asami Mizukawa (“Aya”), Masataka Kubota (“Hyūga”), Sho Kaneta (“Hidenobu”), Takaaki Enoki (“Lord Ito”), and Jun Kunimura (“Gōda”). They’ll join returning stars Hiroyuki Sanada in his Emmy Award-winning role of Toranaga, plus Cosmo Jarvis as Blackthorne, with Fumi Nikaidô (“Ochiba”), Shinnosuke Abe (“Buntaro”), Hiroto Kanai (“Omi”), Yoriko Dôguchi (“Kiri”), Tommy Bastow (“Alvito”), Yuko Miyamoto (“Gin”), Eita Okuno (“Saeki”) and Yuka Kouri (“Kiku”).
FX also offered the first plot details for the series, which reads: “Part two of Shōgun is set ten years after the events of the first season and continues the historically-inspired saga of these two men from different worlds whose fates are inextricably entwined.” The two men, of course, are Lord Yoshii Toranaga (Sanada) and English pilot John Blackthorne (Cosmo Jarvis). Production is scheduled to begin on the new episodes in Vancouver this January.
As fans well recall, Season 1 of Shogun was an adaptation of James Clavell’s bestselling novel and largely told the entire story of that book. The new season will draw from history itself and the true stories that inspired the text, and the confirmed decade-long long time jump for the series is one that will actually work to its advantage, considering audiences will have to wait an extended amount of time between the episodes.
“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,” co-creator Justin Marks told Variety. “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.”
Shogun’s first season would go on to win 18 Emmy Awards, setting a record for the most by a series in a single season. If that doesn’t prove that the series can compete with Game of Thrones, maybe the second batch of episodes will finally make it clear.
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