Shōgun Season 2 & Season 3 Reportedly In Development at FX-Hulu

Shōgun is officially getting Season 2 – and Season 3 – according to the latest reports. This news comes right on the heels of Shōgun star Hiroyuki Sanada signing a deal to return as Lord Yoshii Toranaga in Season 2, which was an early indicator that Hulu and FX were indeed going to continue the series beyond the end of author James Clavell’s source novel. 

Before Shōgun book fans get to concerned; Seasons 2 and 3 of the TV series are reportedly being developed with the estate of James Clavell fully involved. A writers’ room for Shōgun Season 2 is set to begin this summer. Showrunners Justin Marks and Rachel Kondo are still onboard, as is Season 1 executive producer Michaela Clavell for the Clavell estate, with Hiroyuki Sanada still serving as producer alongside his starring role as Toranaga.

There is one small asterisk still hanging over this Shōgun renewal news: Variety’s report notes that “this is not a formal renewal” for the series, and that “no production has been scheduled for more episodes.” 

The conspiracy theory that’s being whispered is that FX-Hulu could be indicating that Shōgun is getting additional seasons in order to get the series in the dramatic series categories at this year’s Emmys. As a “limited series,” Shōgun’s potential for awards wins was strictly limited, compared to all the categories it could compete in win in as a dramatic ongoing series. So far, all of the moves being made are ones that the studio can make to secure Emmy Awards victory without any significant investment in actual production or salaries. If Shōgun wins big (as expected), additional seasons can quickly go into production; if Emmys visibility and wins don’t increase Shōgun’s profile sufficiently, these new seasons could be abandoned, which would still leave the achievement of one of the best limited series of recent years. 

What Would Shōgun Season 2 Be About? 

 Shōgun wasn’t a fictional work by James Clavell: it was a dramatization of actual historical events. Clavell spent years researching 17th-century Japanese history to create his novel’s story and characters –  many of whom (Blackthorne, Toranaga, Mariko, Ishido) are fictionalized versions of real historical figures. Clavell’s novel was focused on its collection of principal characters (Blackthorne, Toranaga, Mariko) and how their fates converged to change the fate of Japan – it did not cover what happened after that character connection was severed. 

History and its subsequent events are all on the table for Shōgun Season 2 to explore. It would be different in terms of characters and tone from the original novel, but the next season could continue focusing on Toranaga and his quest to gain (or hold onto) power over Japan. 

For Disney (owner of FX and Hulu) it’s an opportunity to keep its biggest prestige content win going, and possibly expand it into a whole franchise of spinoff series. The same has worked for Game of Thrones (which led to the prequel series House of the Dragon becoming a major hit). In Shōgun’s case, history has already written the source material needed to mine more to fill Seasons 2 and 3 

Shōgun is now streaming on Hulu and Disney+ (with the Hulu bundle).