Shogun season 2: Will there be another series as Disney hit comes to a thrilling end?
Launched in February, the 10 episode miniseries Shogun has become a huge success for Disney+, with the Japan-set tale of honour, romance and war in the 17th century gripping fans who have compared the show to HBO’s hit fantasy epic Game of Thrones.
It is based on James Clavell’s bestselling 1975 Shogun novel that was previously adapted into an acclaimed 1980 miniseries featuring The Thorn Birds’ star Richard Chamberlain and Seven Samurai’s Toshiro Mifune. The new Disney+ series was created by husband and wife team Rachel Kondo and Justin Marks, with filming taking place in Canada – doubling for Japan – between September 2021 and June 2022.
What is Shogun about?
The series tells the story of a power struggle in Japan, following the death of the leader Taiko. With his son too young to rule, control has been split between five men acting as regents, with four of them plotting to get rid of the fifth, Toranaga (Hiroyuki Sanada).
Into this tense situation sails English mariner John Blackthorne (Cosmo Jarvis) aboard the Dutch trading ship Erasmus. When he and his starving crew arrive in the coastal village of Ajiro, he is taken prisoner and brought before Toranaga and his translator Lady Mariko (Anna Sawai).
Blackthorne then finds himself entangled in the shifting allegiances, complicated traditions and complex affairs of Japan, leading to a shocking final two episodes that have left fans begging for a second season.
Will there be a second season of Shogun?
The series keeps very closely to the original novel, and ends much as the book does, meaning it is unlikely there will be any more episodes to come.
In fact, in an interview with The Hollywood Reporter in March, co-creator Justin Marks confirmed that Shogun will not return.
“We took the story to the end of the book. We love how the book ends; it was one of the reasons why we both knew we wanted to do it – and we ended in exactly that place,” he said.
“You know, we also made this show so long ago, because of the long tail of post production on it,” he added. “It’s not like a normal TV series, where if we were in a situation like this promoting it, we wouldn’t just be in the writers’ room already, we’d be on set shooting season two by now.”
What else has the cast been in?
Sadly, there may be no more Shogun to come, but you can seek out the lead actors in some of their other roles. Cosmo Jarvis – who was born in New Jersey but grew up in Devon – has been in the movies Calm with Horses alongside Barry Keoghan, as well as Lady Macbeth and Persuasion.
Meanwhile, Japanese actor Hiroyuki Sanada is best known to international audiences for his roles in Westworld and John Wick: Chapter 4. Anna Sawai appeared in the cult crime series Gigi/Haji and also has a starring role in Apple TV+ sci-fi series Monarch: Legacy of Monsters, which was recently renewed for a second season.
