Shōgun Editors Address Possibility of Extended Cut Release

Shōgun is a big win for FX and Hulu, as the show is already being crowned as one of the best TV shows of 2024. As Shōgun continues to gain mainstream fame, more and more people are learning about the novel and real-life history that inspired the show. 

Author James Clavell’s Shogun novel (1975) is a densely layered book, examining multiple sides and perspectives in the 17th century geopolitical power struggles in and around Japan. The Shōgun TV series understandably has to distill all those narratives from the page into a more streamlined TV viewing experience – so just how much content did the showrunners and/or producers end up leaving on the cutting room floor? 

Will Shōgun Get An Extended Cut Release? 

ComicBook.com had a chance to sit down with two of Shōgun’s editors, Maria Gonzales and Aika Miyake, who had nothing but praise for the footage that showrunners Rachel Kondo, Justin Marks, and their team of writers and directors captured during production. The editors made it clear that, for them, the “challenge” here was having so much good content to whittle down into ten hour-long TV episodes. That led to a larger question: how many of those deleted scenes are there? Enough for Shōgun to one day release an Extended Cut of the show? 

“I mean we have inside knowledge of what was cut out because we did it! [laughs]” Gonzales said, before explaining that, “Honestly I don’t think anybody has spoken about extended versions; it would be interesting. There are quite a few [deleted] scenes.” 

When asked directly if Shōgun: The Extended Cut is something that could even be feasibly assembled and released, Gonzales said “Oh for sure. Cuts of every scene exist – whether or not we honed them in. You know many of the scenes were actually cut down in terms of dialogue as well – I don’t think those alternate versions are ever going to see the light of day – but definitely, there were scenes… that were cut out that people probably would enjoy.”

“There were some really good scenes that I was really sad to see go. For sure,” Miyake added. 

Given the level of acclaim that Shōgun is enjoying, it’s not at all outside the box for FX and Disney/Hulu to at least consider producing and releasing an extended cut of the series. Once the initial run is done, Shōgun will live primarily as streaming content, and that format will allow the usual restrictions of traditional TV to fall away, and a longer, more immersive version of the show to exist. If fans are happy with getting as much of the show as possible (and it sure seems that way right now), then Shōgun: The Extended Cut could help boost up some serious retention numbers for streamers. 

Right now, Disney and FX are making bold strides in marketing Shōgun; the Hulu page for the show offers both the standard subtitled version of the show, and English Dub version, and access to the official podcast for the show. One additional tab offering the Extended version seems like a no-brainer. 

Shōgun is current on FX and Hulu.