The creators of the Emmy Award-winning drama “Shogun” offered a tantalizing glimpse into the ambitious scope of the show’s second season during a discussion at the Disney+ Original Preview held at Hong Kong Disneyland Resort on Thursday, promising unprecedented battle sequences and unexpected romances along with a narrative leap across the series’ 10 years.
Co-creator and executive producer Justin Marks described the second season as both an epic love story and an exploration of the devastating toll of war, with an exciting visual scale beyond anything viewers had seen before. “In Part 2, we can say two things,” Marks said. “Like Season 1, I think Part 2 will be really epic and beautiful. You’re never going to get a completely unexpected love story. It’s also a story of war and the cost of war. We’re currently putting together the battle scenes for Part 2. I don’t think we’ve ever seen this kind of scale, this kind of tragedy, this kind of humanity.”
The new season moves forward 10 years after the events that concluded season 1, and Marks said this creative choice reflects both the realities of modern television production and the opportunity to rediscover characters in new contexts. “This show takes a little bit of time to make. It’s not like it’s going to come out a year later. And it’s crazy when you watch a show that ended three years ago and Season 2 starts and it feels like it’s been like five minutes,” Marks explained. “We’re trying to use this jump as a way to go back and meet our characters for the first time and see what’s changed in their lives over the past 10 years and rediscover them.”
The time jump also serves the show’s larger ambitions, which Marks described as “story first and foremost.” While the first season centered on agency and power following “a man meant to bring peace from the threshold of war,” the historical reality of feudal Japan’s trajectory means that season two will tackle different themes. “As we know from history, things weren’t always that way in feudal Japan at the time,” Marks pointed out.
Co-creator and executive producer Rachel Kondo said the audience connections formed in the first season gave the creative team the confidence to venture into even more challenging territory. “I think it was a surprise to us as well that the audience was emotionally and deeply drawn into the story,” Kondo said. “What we felt in the audience was that they lent us what was most important. They lent us their time. They cared for us, they paid attention to us. That’s something we can really bring into Season 2, because that’s what encourages us.” It’s that trust that opens up creative possibilities, she suggested. “If we let people follow us into this land of feudal Japan, they’d probably follow us into deeper, more cave-like spaces.”
Star and executive producer Hiroyuki Sanada, who won an Emmy and a Golden Globe for his portrayal of Lord Yoshii Toranaga, spoke at length about the show’s impact and future plans. “It was a big surprise, a big surprise,” Sanada said. “We’ve won a lot of awards, and every time we’ve won an award, it’s been great, especially for me as a producer and as the lead actor. A few years ago, I couldn’t have imagined filming in Vancouver.”
The veteran actor, who started out as a child actor in Japan and has worked there for 40 years and in Hollywood for 20 years, reflected on how he put all of that experience into Season 1. “This recognition is an important point in my life,” he said. “At the award ceremony, I could see the faces of my seniors, teachers, and other people involved. In a sense, I feel like I was able to repay the favor.”
Mr. Sanada emphasized the broader implications of the show’s success for Asian talent around the world. “The award I received means that opportunities will expand not only for this work, but also for talented people from various countries, not just Japanese actors.” “What was once considered a dream can now come true if you work hard. I hope this sends a message.”
He gave encouragement to aspiring actors. Sanada said, “I think if you learn physical skills such as language, acting, and movement, and prepare so that you don’t panic when an opportunity arises, chances like this will come again.” “I believe that the Shogun platform is an important stage for giving great young talent a chance and introducing them to the world. Please look forward to it.”
Sanada said that the experience of working with young actors, including Tadanobu Asano, who played Yabushige Kashiki in the first season, was enriching. “It’s always exciting to work with young actors and I learn a lot from them,” he said. As an actor and producer on the series, he was able to provide guidance from the early stages of production, including physical movement, sword technique, and the correct way to sheath the sword. “When I got a good take, I was happier than when I was successful.I worked with the joy of a parent,” he said.
When asked what viewers can expect from the new season, Sanada teased a surprise. “This is a historical story, but even those who know what happened in history will be surprised and excited by the way it unfolds,” he said.
Sanada acknowledged the pressure following the success of the first year, while expressing confidence in the team. “Of course there is pressure heading into Season 2, but we have great teamwork from Season 1 and we have a lot of great new cast members, so I can’t wait to start filming. We can use the pressure to make an even better Season 2,” he said. Kondo playfully urged her to rest and take vitamins, pointing out that the new season would be tough. Sanada joked that playing a character 10 years older might allow for quieter acting.
The production returns two directors from the first season, Hiromi Kamata and Takeshi Fukunaga, and adds new voices to the director’s roster, including Anthony Byrne, Kate Herron, and Marks himself. Marks praised the new directors for their deep involvement in the show’s world. “Anthony and Kate, these two newcomers to the show in Vancouver, who are filmmakers and visionaries in their own right, came to the show as people who were immersed in the world of season one and fell in love with it. We were really moved by that and their insight.”The directors are currently in pre-production in Vancouver, building the sets for what will be a visually ambitious season.
Season 2 will expand beyond James Clavell’s original novel, and Marks emphasized the continued close partnership with the author’s estate. Clavell’s daughter Michaela continues to serve as an executive producer on the series and is closely involved in all creative decisions. “She’s been on our side from the beginning, she’s been our muse in this process, someone who really understood what her father was saying and was involved in every draft, every casting, every director choice,” Marks said. “She was someone who was really honest with us.”
The creative team began developing ideas for Season 2 while working on Season 1, leaning into what Marks calls “the spirit of storytelling in the era in which ‘Shogun’ was written, which was the great serialized storytelling of the ’70s, where you could just pick up the story and immerse yourself in 100 different horizontal directions.”
Kondo suggested that working within constraints actually strengthened the storytelling approach. “I think we found that using parameters strengthens the story,” she said. “We’ve gone through so many lockdowns, COVID-19, mass shootings, and inexperienced people along the way. We’ve learned to invite parameters. The biggest parameter of all for us right now is this history itself. We have to work within the confines of what happened, make choices, and have insight.”
Marks credited FX with giving him creative freedom in the production from the beginning, including the bold decision to produce the show primarily in Japanese with subtitles. “They allowed us to take these risks,” he said. “Doing this show in the United States, primarily in Japanese, means they’re allowing us to subtitle it, just like we do. It’s up to them to actually provide that to us. It was a very brave choice on their part.” That creative courage extended to allowing the show to explore “poetry, performance, dance competitions, and all sorts of other things” rather than defaulting to traditional action-driven storytelling.
Although the producers were tight-lipped about specific plot details, Marks confirmed that the new season will feature some new faces along with the returning cast. “We killed a lot of people” in the first season, he said. “We have some really exciting characters this season, characters that we want to tell everything about but can’t. These faces really came to mind for us. So we’re really excited to bring our families together with these new faces and see them become a part of this world.”
Season 1 of “Shogun” broke the record for most Emmy Awards for a series in a single season with 18. Sanada became the first Japanese actor to win the Emmy Award for Best Actor in a Drama. Anna Sawai is the first Asian actress to win the award for Best Drama Leading Actress.
