Shōgun Stars Reveal Language Barriers Actually Enhanced On-Screen Chemistry

FX’s Shogun is one of the most highly-anticipated new TV shows of 2024. A combination of reverence for James Clavell’s novel and the impressive marketing campaign by FX has a lot of viewers eager to jump into the show – and many may not be prepared for just how much Japanese culture is in the show. 

That includes language: even the first glowing reviews for Shogun have noted that the show features a lot of Japanese-language dialogue, with only protagonist John Blackthorne (Cosmo Jarvis) being a primary English speaker, and his conversations with bi-lingual characters like Lord YoshiI Toranaga (Horiyuki Sanada) and Toda Mariko (Anna Sawai) being the only times that English is the primary language of a scene. 

During ComicBook.com’s interview with Shogun stars Cosmo Jarvis and Hiroyuki Sanada, the topic of language definitely came up. The two stars revealed that, ironically, having a language barrier between the actors in real life helped to enhance their interactions and chemistry onscreen. 

“In the beginning, despite the language barrier that was prevalent in the beginning, it was a good thing to use to the advantage of the scenes because it made sense for it to be applicable to the scenes because that’s what they demanded,” Cosmo Jarvis explained. “So there was a lot of just communicating without using language, which was very useful.”

In the Shogun novel, John Blackthorne leads an English expedition to Japan, becoming the first Englishman to reach its shores. That instantly creates a dynamic where Blackthorne is truly an alien, stranded in a world he doesn’t comprehend. Part of the novel focuses on the need for Blackthorne to have translators in his company, and how he fosters a bond with Sanada’s Lord Toranaga through the mutual benefit of cross-cultural education. 

In that sense, the process of the real-life actors learning to work together across cultural differences was a perfect parallel to what their characters were experiencing: 

“I think it was automatic,” Horiyuki Sanada explained. “From the beginning, I felt something, you know, and during the shooting, knowing each other more and more and deeper and deeper just overlapping like Toranaga and Blackthorne for me.”

It will be interesting to see if American TV audiences go through the same process described above being like Blackthorne in the first episode: confused by the prolific Japanese dialogue and subtitles, but eventually getting used to the flow of the Japanese language themes. 

Shogun is a 10-episode limited series that will air on FX and streaming on FX on Hulu. Shogun stars Hiroyuki Sanada, Cosmo Jarvis, Anna Sawai, Tadanobu Asano, Hiroto Kanai, Takehiro Hira, Moeka Hoshi, Tokuma Nishioka, Shinnosuke Abe, Yuki Kura and Fumi Nikaido. It was created for television by Rachel Kondo and Justin Marks – with Marks serving as showrunner and executive producer. Michaela Clavell, Edward L. McDonnell, Michael De Lu and Kondo all executive produce, and Hiroyuki Sanada also serves as a producer. 

Shogun will premiere on FX on February 27th.