Shogun: Will we see the same characters in seasons 2 and 3?

Last week, Shogun made American television history by becoming the most awarded series in a single edition of the Emmy Awards (19 awards). Rounding off a perfect year for the adaptation of James Clavell’s novel, following record audiences and a triumphant critical and public reception when it aired last spring.

Shogun was originally intended as a one-season series adapting the entire best-selling novel. But the series’ success made it inevitable that it would be renewed for additional seasons, forcing the writers to come up with a new sequel to the 1975 book.

Seasons 2 and 3 will not be filmed at the same time

Set around 1600, the Shogun series features an English pilot – John Blackthorne – who joins the court of the Japanese Lord Yoishi Toranaga. The latter aim to seize control of the Shogunate and rely on British military and naval expertise to eliminate other rival clans.

Many fans are wondering if the series will take an anthology form. In this way, Seasons 2 and 3 can follow independent stories and introduce new characters. But according to American channel FX chief John Landgraf, the links to the first season of Shôgun will still be maintained.

However, filming two new seasons simultaneously is not possible for narrative reasons: “They tell a common story, common characters, but still different stories, I don’t know yet if there will really be three seasons (…), but three is the number that seems to do the best. The story we want to tell.”

Back to Japan for seasons 2 and 3?

Another major change could happen in these 2nd and 3rd seasons, namely the filming location. The first season was supposed to be filmed in Japan, before Covid-related problems eventually forced the production of the series to move filming to Vancouver, Canada.

“I’ve always wanted to shoot in Japan. We really wanted to find a way to shoot this series in Japan. It’s difficult because of the size of the series and the studios there, which are not the same size.” John Landgraf said.

Moving production to Japan doesn’t necessarily make shooting in natural settings any easier, according to the latter: “Unfortunately, Japanese medieval castles are no longer in their original form, and honestly, it would be impossible to film in them.”

Since the writing of the scripts has only just begun, broadcasting until 2026 is, at best, impossible. Hopefully Shogun fans won’t have to wait too long to find their new favorite series. Until then, you can watch the entire first season on Disney+.

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