Discover the latest updates on Shōgun Season 2, exploring historical inspirations and the likelihood of continuation. Dive into the possibilities and future of this captivating series!
When Shōgun begins, Lord Yoshii Toranaga (Hiroyuki Sanada) states that he doesn’t seek to gain power. Of course, he’s lying—but like every great leader, he knows that it’s more important to earn respect than it is to rule by fear. Toranaga’s goal throughout FX’s ten-episode limited series is to put his family in power for generations to come. So there’s reason to think that Shōgun will earn a second season, right?
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The Historical Inspiration Behind Shōgun 2
As many history buffs already know, the character of Toranaga is based on Tokugawa Ieyasu, who ruled Japan in the seventeenth century. His rise to the shogunate kick-started a generational reign of more than 250 years, but it took one of the nation’s bloodiest battles, at Sekigahara, to place him on top.
Tokugawa was also a cunning politician whose real-life chess maneuvers are mostly depicted on Shōgun exactly as they occurred in Japanese history. But when the show’s Tokugawa counterpart finishes his political chess game in the finale, his dream is still forthcoming. Throughout Shōgun, the mystery for audiences lies not in if he will solve the problem but in how he will solve it. When the credits roll, even before the fighting, it’s clear that Toranaga has accomplished his goal.
Will Shōgun Return for Season 2?
Shōgun is based on James Clavell’s 1975 novel of the same name, which has a definitive ending that the FX series adapted in part. The author wrote many more novels after Shōgun as part of his “Asian Saga,” but none of the stories return to the same characters from Shōgun. Suffice to say, we likely won’t see any more episodes after the finale. “We took the story to the end of the book and put a period at the end of that sentence,” co-creator Justin Marks, who partnered with wife Rachel Kondo on the project, told The Hollywood Reporter in March. “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. And I’ve been partying to this in the past with shows like this, where you build a whole factory that only pumps out ten cars and closes up shops. It’s a bummer.”
Marks also confirmed that Shōgun was filmed so long ago—due to production delays caused by COVID-19—that if FX had planned a second season of the series, we would know by now. “We wouldn’t just be in the writer’s room already,” he joked. “We’d be on set shooting season 2.”
Should the Shōgun team abandon the novels and continue to explore the Tokugawa shogunate, there’s plenty of Japanese history after 1600 to adapt. After gaining the title of shōgun, Tokugawa consolidates power for the next fifteen years. At sixty-five years old, he has a new task: to turn the shogunate over to his son, Hidetada, successfully. He also maintains a friendship with John Blackthorne’s counterpart, William Adams. Eventually, he’s even forced to siege Osaka Castle when the Taikō’s heir finally comes of age and leads a rebellion. If the team decides to keep going, Shōgun has more of a story to tell.
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