Shogun Creators Tease Big Plans for Next Two Seasons, "We Know How All of This Ends"

Shōgun Season 2 and 3 are in the works, and showrunner Justin Marks teases where the story is headed, and how it will end.

By Kofi Outlaw

Shōgun was a breakout hit for FX-Hulu, and while there was a debate early on in its run about the series going more than one season, that debate came to an end shortly after the Finale. Shōgun Season 2 and Season 3 are already in development at FX, and series, and in the latest round of interview the show creators reveal they have the storylines for those seasons planned to the end! 

Showrunners Justin Marks and Rachel Kondo spoke to Variety about Shōgun's future. Marks admitted that it's a daunting task to leave behind the original source novel by author James Clavell:

"I would be lying if I said we have the answers right now. We have been speaking with one of our historical advisors who we cherish, and talking just about, "Tell us a little more about William Adams here and Tokugawa Ieyasu there, and tell us about some new characters and some new things that are going on. And OK, yeah. Interesting."

Shōgun's principal characters – Lord Yoshii Toranaga (Hiroyuki Sanda), John Blackthorne (Cosmo Jarvis), and Lady Mariko (Anna Sawai) – were all based on real historical characters. Even though some of those characters (Mariko) didn't survive Shōgun's first season, the others have significant arcs in shaping Japan. 

So, even though the Shōgun novel may be done, history still has plenty of source material to provide. The key is sifting through all that history to find the roadmap through more seasons of the TV show. 

"And yeah, that's really when you have history on your side, what you don't have on your side is this wonderful book moving forward. There are no roads where we're going," Marks added.

How Will Shogun End? 

shogun-season-2-and-3-series-ending-explained-showrunners.jpg
(Photo: FX – Hulu)

The creative team has seemingly figured out at least one major challenge to the future seasons of Shōgun: how and where it will end: 

"I want to make that point especially clear... that we know how all of this ends in the final moment," Marks explained. "And once we saw that moment, we said, 'Oh, now we have to get to that. Now we have to do that'... And we know how it gets to that place... that was like, 'Oh, wow. Yeah, no, this is the natural end of this.' We think we have something that is exciting and surprising. We're going to go into the room to build that and if we come out the other side and it's no good, the assurance from FX and everyone is, we're not going to make it."

Related:

Shōgun is now streaming on Hulu and Disney+.

Source: Variety

Trending Now: