Hiroyuki Sanada will reportedly return for a second season of Shogun, the acclaimed historical drama that FX hopes to continue. Sanada had appeared in the initial episodes as Lord Yoshii Toranaga. News of Sanada’s involvement was first reported by Deadline.
Based on James Clavell’s 1975 novel, Shogun was the most-viewed premiere for FX across several streaming platforms. In the six days following its debut, the show captured more than nine million views on Hulu, Disney+. And Star+. It’s still unclear, however, whether a second season would be categorized as a limited/anthology series or a straight dramatic series, which would affect its eligibility for an Emmy nomination.
In a recent interview with The Hollywood Reporter, Justin Marks, Shogun’s showrunner and co-creator (with Rachel Kondo) said he was still unsure about plans for a second season. He was quoted as saying, “I don’t know. I keep saying it’s like we want to let everyone be on the same page when it comes to the book. And hopefully now the TV audience and the book audience are on the same page with what the story is and where it resolves. I think if we had a story, if we could find a story, we would be open to it. But I don’t think that anyone ever wants to be out over their skis without a roadmap and everything. And it’s also just about, do people want more of it?”
Given the popular and critical response to Shogun’s first season, it now seems clear that people do want more of it. Shogun, which took six years to make, is the costliest series FX has yet made. In the first season, which was shot largely in Canada, Sanada played a feudal warlord who tried to unite Japan during a period in the seventeenth century when centralized imperial power was weak.
The 60-year-old Sanada has had a distinguished career as an actor and producer stretching back to the 1960s when he began appearing in action films as a child star. His recent appearances include John Wick: Chapter 4, Bullet Train, Army of the Dead, Westworld, and Avengers: Endgame.
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