Shōgun is the frontrunner at the 2024 Emmy Awards, with no less than 25 nominations for the FX-Hulu series. The list of Emmy nominations for Shōgun includes Best Drama Series, Directing For a Drama Series (Frederick E.O. Toye for the episode “Crimson Sky”), multiple noms for writing (for the episodes “Anjin” and “Crimson Sky”), as well as a sweep of the major acting categories, including Lead Actor in a Drama Series for Hiroyuki Sanada (Lord Toranaga), Lead Actress in a Drama Series for Anna Sawai (Lady Mariko), Supporting Actor in a Drama Series for both Tadanobu Asano (Lord Kashigi Yabushige), and Takehiro Hira (Lord Ishido Kazunari).
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Shōgun even scored a nom in the category of “Guest Actor in a Drama Series” for actor Néstor Carbonell’s role as Spanis sailor Vasco Rodrigues. Shōgun was also recognized for its costuming, production design, and the main title theme music.
Shōgun played a game of awards season dominance as intricate and diabolical as its titular ruler, Toranaga. The series was originally presented as a limited series and a direct adaptation of author James Clavell’s 1973 novel. However, once it became clear that Shōgun was a breakout hit that was being hailed as a “Best of 2024” contender, Disney, and FX quickly began to switch marketing strategies, in ways that analysts predicted were in part geared toward increasing the series’ chances at the Emmys.
As a limited series, Shōgun would’ve qualified for only a couple of Emmy categories; so soon after the finale of the series aired, reports started appearing that FX-Hulu was developing Seasons 2 and 3 of Shōgun, with writers starting to crack storylines, and Hiroyuki Sanada signing on to return as Toranaga and serve as a producer on future seasons. Those early production moves were enough to shift Shōgun into the lane of being a regular ongoing series, which therefore qualifies for a much wider range of Emmys.
Clearly the strategy has paid off, as these 25 Emmy Nominations are already a nice bade of brand honor for both FX and Hulu. Hulu, in particular, is having a really good day, as its hit original series The Bear is holding the second place spot for Emmy nominations, with 23 in total. Like with Shōgun, Hulu has played a shrewd game of awards strategy with The Bear, getting it firmly into the “Comedy” categories, where the show has a much bigger chance of winning, while also not stepping on the toes of Shōgun.
The 2024 Emmy Awards will be airing on September 15th.
