The first season of Shōgun turned out to be a juggernaut both in terms of its popularity and its success with Emmy voters. In fact, the show was such a success that what started out as a limited series has now been greenlit for second and third seasons with FX. The series was originally based on a book, but the story of that book ended with the show’s first season, which means that whatever comes next is uncharted territory.
The decision to make more Shōgun is a perilous, but FX head Jon Landgraf seems aware that the road will not be an easy one. During an interview with Deadline, he explained that the plans for seasons 2 and 3 is for each one to be its own narrative arc.
“[Seasons 2 and 3 are] separate narratives,” he explained. “They’re all part of one continuous narrative with continuing characters, but they’re separate narratives. I don’t know that we’re certain there will be three seasons, but in really looking at the characters in the history that’s being depicted here, albeit in a fictionalized manner, it still feels to us like three is the right number of seasons to really do it justice.”
For his part, star Hiroyuki Sanada seems excited about the potential story to be mined in additional seasons. “Toranaga’s strategies are like a chess game,” he told CBR. “It’s not only about fighting. Human drama is important. There will be new characters coming in, and we’re going to basically follow the real history in Seasons 2 and 3. Before the peaceful era came, there were a lot of dramatic moments.”
