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Despite popular and critical acclaim, Shogun may not be returning for a second season on FX, says showrunner and co-creator Justin Marks.

Marks told The Hollywood Reporter this week that the production team may have run out of creative juice to expand on what James Clavell had written in his 1975 novel, on which the series is based. Marks was quoted as saying: “I don’t know. … 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?”

It’s been suggested that one strategy might be for the show’s creators to do an anthology series based on some of Clavell’s other books, such as Tai-Pan, which is set in Hong Kong in the 1840s. However, Marks admitted that such a series would be difficult to pull off, given the different settings and timeframes. Referring to FX’s Fargo series, he said “But it’s tough because [in] Fargo, you’re still telling different threads of the same place, whereas The Asian Saga goes all over the place for good reason. So it’s hard. You’re not actually building off that same language in the same way.”

“I don’t know if Clavell could have done it either,” Marks added. That’s probably why he moved on to other books too, right? He knew what he had done. Yeah, it’s a tough one.”

Despite these misgivings, critics have been lavish with praise for Shogun. Rosie Knight wrote in IGN that its “shocking finale … will likely be remembered as one of the best in television history. … It was a masterclass in pulling back the curtain.” She was referring to the fiery destruction of the ship piloted by the British invaders led by John Blackthorne, which effectively allowed the shogun to assert his power even as Japan ultimately was forced to end its insularity and isolation from the West.

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