Like the 1980 miniseries that first adapted James Clavell’s novel that was published five years earlier, the new Shogun, which can be streamed with a Hulu subscription, was also supposed to just be a limited time affair. However, after being met with critical acclaim, and ahead of it scoring six nominations for the 76th Primetime Emmy Awards and an additional 16 nominations for the Creative Arts Ceremony, it was announced that an additional two seasons are in development. Now Hiroyuki Sanada, who plays Lord Yoshii Toranaga, has shared an update on where things stand with Seasons 2 and 3, as well as teased what awaits his character.
Shogun May Begin Filming In 2025
The update on Shogun’s new status became public in May, and three months later, Sanada, who’s been nominated for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Drama Series, told THR the following when asked how far along the next two seasons are:
We have a writers room, and they’re working every day. Hopefully sometime next year, we can start shooting.
Hulu didn’t waste any time having the Shogun writers put pen to paper, and if all goes well, then the cast and crew can begin rolling cameras sometime in 2025. That said, Shogun Season 1 began filming in September 2021 and concluded the following June, and then it would be more than a year and a half before it reached the public’s eyes. It’s unclear yet whether Season 2 and 3 will be shot back-to-back or over separate periods. Even if it’s the latter, though, assuming that Season 2 takes just as long to shoot as Season 1, if not longer, and then factoring in post-production work, then I suspect that the next batch of episodes won’t arrive until 2026 at the earliest.
Shogun Will Draw More From Real Life In Seasons 2 And 3
Although Shogun was one of six books that comprised James Clavell’s Asian Saga, they were all set in different time periods, and the events of Shogun were never directly followed up on. So Hulu’s Shogun now finds itself in uncharted territory… sort of. While there’s no literary source material left to fall back on, Yoshii Toranaga is based on the real-life figure Tokugawa Ieyasu, who, as pointed out in the interview, ushered in two centuries of peace after he became shogun and one of the three “Great Unifiers” of Japan. So on the subject of where the conflict of Shogun Seasons 2 and 3 will come from, Hiroyuki Sanada said this:
There are so many famous episodes in Japan. Toranaga’s strategies are like a chess game. 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 two and three. Before the peaceful era came, there were a lot of dramatic moments.
Shortly before aiding Kashigi Yabushige in committing seppuku, Toranga shared with his former subordinate in the Shogun Season 1 finale that he’d carried out a series of actions to ensure that he won the future Battle of Sekigahara and that John Blackthorne, a.k.a. the Anjin, would remain in Japan. So Sanada is absolutely correct that Toranaga’s planning make him a skilled chess player when it comes to gaining power. Peace may be coming to this era of Japan, but there are still challenges ahead for Toranaga to ensure that his life doesn’t get boring.
We’ll pass along more details about the next two seasons of Shogun as they come in. In the meantime, be sure to look over the other best shows on Hulu and the 2024 TV schedule to learn what programming will begin airing soon.