You know how the story goes with limited series these days. Once ratings explode, the “limited” is no more, and as is the case with FX’s Shōgun, multiple additional seasons have suddenly been greenlit. More of James Clavell’s Asian Saga will therefore come to FX (and Hulu), and presumably, the series will at least somewhat follow the continued source material for this 1600s feudal Japan war story.
The ratings justified this decision, too, despite the first season being an extensive production that yielded 9 million views (higher than fellow critical darling The Bear) for the opening episodes within a week of initial airtime. Even George R.R. Martin paused his recent grumpfest to enjoy Shōgun, which he presumably believes is a better adaptation than HotD‘s second season.
As of now, we know that Hiroyuki Sanada will return as Toranaga, and Anna Sawai will not be back as as Toda Mariko, but what of Cosmo Jarvis as marooned English navigator John Blackthorne? FX hasn’t yet revealed that Jarvis will officially return, but Sanada appears to believe that Toranaga won’t let him go anywhere, as he previously told USA Today:
“Blackthorne is useful to Toranaga, who wants to keep him in Japan and not let him go back to England,” says Sanada. “And when Blackthorne builds the ship again, he’ll burn it again.”
That sounds like a (clearly paraphrased) “sure, it’s not set in stone, but come on, where can Blackthorne really go?”
Also, will FX seize the chance to use the book’s explicit running joke about Blackthorne being extremely well endowed, an attribute that was purposefully left out of the first season? Sure, co-creator and co-showrunner Justin Marks did tell Decider that the writers felt, “I think we can find new humor and be funnier in ways.” Yet few people expected more Shōgun seasons, so why not seize that moment?
Literary endowment or not, we don’t yet know when Shōgun will return for a second season.