Shōgun (2024 TV series)

Shōgun (Japanese: 将軍, pronounced [ɕoːɡɯɴ] ) is an American historical drama television series created by Rachel Kondo and Justin Marks. It is based on the 1975 novel by James Clavell, which was previously adapted into a 1980 miniseries. Its ensemble cast includes Hiroyuki Sanada, Cosmo Jarvis, Anna Sawai, Tadanobu Asano, Takehiro Hira, Tommy Bastow, and Fumi Nikaido. The production features a mostly Japanese cast and the majority of the dialogue is in the Japanese language.

Initially conceived as a miniseries, the first season premiered its first two episodes on February 27, 2024, on FX on Hulu and FX, with the rest being released weekly until April 23, 2024. It received widespread critical acclaim, particularly for the directing, writing, visuals, production values, performances of its cast, and faithfulness to the source material. Following its success, a second and third season began early development.

In 2024, Shōgun became the first Japanese-language series to win a Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Drama Series, with its first season winning 18 categories at the 76th Primetime Emmy Awards and 76th Primetime Creative Arts Emmy Awards, setting a new record as the most awarded single season of television in Emmy history. It additionally received four Golden Globe Awards, including Best Television Series – Drama and acting wins for Sanada, Sawai, and Asano.

Shōgun follows "the collision of two ambitious men from different worlds, John Blackthorne, a risk-taking English sailor who ends up shipwrecked in Japan, a land whose unfamiliar culture will ultimately redefine him, and Lord Toranaga, a shrewd, powerful daimyo, at odds with his own dangerous political rivals. Then there's Lady Mariko, a woman with invaluable skills but dishonorable family ties, who must prove her value and allegiance."

Clavell's Shōgun is historical fiction. The character of Blackthorne is loosely based on the historical English navigator William Adams, who rose to become a samurai under Tokugawa Ieyasu, a powerful feudal lord (daimyō) who later became the military ruler of Japan (shōgun) and the founder of the Tokugawa shogunate. Ieyasu is the basis for the character of Yoshii Toranaga.

In the following lists, the names in parentheses represent the historical figure on which the character is based. Japanese names are written family name first, then given name.

During the Television Critics Association's annual summer press tour in August 2018, FX announced it would make a new adaptation of the 1975 novel Shōgun by James Clavell and had given the production a straight-to-series order. Executive producers were expected to include Andrew Macdonald, Allon Reich, Michael De Luca, Michaela Clavell, Tim Van Patten, Eugene Kelly, and Ronan Bennett. Rachel Bennette is set as a supervising producer, Tom Winchester as a producer, Georgina Pope as a co-producer, and Eriko Miyagawa as an associate producer. Van Patten also directed the series and Bennett also wrote. FX Productions serves as the production company for the series. Hiroyuki Sanada serves as a producer and lead actor.

In an interview with USA Today, Sanada described his role as a producer, saying "After twenty years in Hollywood, I'm a producer. It means I can say anything, anytime. [...] I had a team for the first time, ever. I carried the pressure of being a producer on my shoulder. But more than that, I had happiness." He also stressed keeping the show authentic to Japanese history. "If something is incorrect, people cannot focus on the drama. They don't want to see that kind of show. We needed to be authentic." Sanada had questioned the viability of a primarily Japanese-language series, feeling it was a "gamble". Marks joked that he did not understand why the network had greenlit "a very expensive sub-titled Japanese period piece whose central climax revolves around a poetry competition."

Initially conceived as a miniseries, its success led FX to announce in May 2024 that a second and third season were officially announced to be in development, with the writer's room assembling in mid-2024.

Principal photography for the series was scheduled to commence in March 2019 in Japan and the United Kingdom but was delayed because the network felt that the production was not "in good enough shape". Sanada did a single day of filming in 2019 in order for FX to retain the rights to the property as the series was being retooled.

In January 2020, it was revealed that after original writer Ronan Bennett became unavailable they started over with new writer and executive producer Justin Marks and supervising producer Rachel Kondo. The writing team included co-executive producer Shannon Goss, consulting producer Matt Lambert, script editor Maegan Houang, and staff writer Emily Yoshida.

Principal photography for the first season began in Vancouver, British Columbia on September 22, 2021, and lasted until June 30, 2022, taking two months longer than expected. Filming took place in locations around southern British Columbia, including the cities of Vancouver, Port Moody, and Coquitlam, and Ucluelet on Vancouver Island. Speaking to Yahoo Canada, Sanada praised Canada, "especially Vancouver," for being "a perfect place to make a samurai drama because they had a big, great, beautiful studio, and then 30 minutes drive from the studio they have everything, forest, river, beach, parks, mountains." Jarvis added, "our Canadian crew exhibited a technical proficiency that I've never witnessed in my life." Altogether, around 340 crew worked on the show.

Nikkan Gendai reported that Japanese extras were paid 50,000 yen per day, which is much higher than a Japanese production where they are paid between zero yen to 5,000 yen a day. A Japanese white pine tree used on set was donated and planted after filming to the City Hall of Port Moody.

Certain post-production visual effects were produced in Ireland.

The score was composed by Academy Award winner Atticus Ross, Leopold Ross, and Nick Chuba. Taro Ishida contributed by arranging and recording traditional Japanese music, including Gagaku, to integrate these authentic elements into the soundtrack. The team aimed to create a unique soundscape that blends ancient and modern elements, using advanced sonic manipulation to enhance the psychological depth of the story.

To promote the series, an immersive exhibition of the series occurred at FX Lawn during San Diego Comic Con in July 2023. These included samurai performances and a virtual koi pond. On September 5, 2023, the series was teased in a showcase of upcoming FX television shows. On November 2, 2023, the show's first trailer debuted on YouTube, which revealed that the series would be released in February 2024 on FX on Hulu. A 30-second trailer for the series aired during the second-quarter of Super Bowl LVIII on February 11, 2024. Bill Bradley of Adweek wrote "The series has been in the works for years and is already the most expensive in FX history, so what's another $7 million-ish for an ad?"

Shōgun premiered with its first two episodes on February 27, 2024, on FX on Hulu and FX. The remainder of the 10-episode series was released weekly. Internationally, the series was available on Disney+ and Star+ in Latin America and Disney+ in other territories. An English dub of the series was available on Hulu. A companion podcast hosted by Shōgun staff writer Emily Yoshida was also released for each episode.

Shōgun received critical acclaim in the United States and Japan. On review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes, 99% of 137 critics gave the series a positive review, with an average rating of 8.7/10. The site's critical consensus reads: "Visually sumptuous and enriched with cultural verisimilitude, Shōgun is an epic adaptation that outdoes the original." On Metacritic, the series holds a weighted average score of 85 out of 100 based on 41 critics, indicating "universal acclaim".

Rebecca Nicholson of The Guardian praised the show, calling it "mesmerising" and especially praised the battle sequences and its respect for the source material. Writing for The New York Times, Mike Hale compared the show to the 1980 adaptation, writing "You can correct for wooden acting, dated production values and Eurocentrism, but you can't really correct for the basic nature of the material." He especially praised the show for highlighting more of the Japanese characters than in the 1980 adaptation, which focused more on Blackthorne. His only complaints were Cosmo Jarvis's more neutral portrayal of Blackthorne and the Western-written source material. Forbes described the show as an "instant hit" and praised Jarvis' portrayal of Blackthorne, stating "I'm immediately drawn to his character because he's not just some good guy, some white savior or what have you. He's smart but he's also calculating and ruthless."

Empire headlined their review by Jake Cunningham with "Shōgun makes for gripping television. Look past the knotty bureaucracy and you'll find striking performances and stunning visuals", highlighting the intricate performances of its lead trio. He describes Jarvis as "compelling" and "magnetic", Hiroyuki Sanada as a "subdued lord [who] ripples with menace, micro-expressions of warfaring arithmetic revealing his tactical mind" and Anna Sawai as "a character torn in duty and spirituality, cloaked in a performance of stoicism." The Hollywood Reporter also praised the supporting cast, notably Moeka Hoshi, Tadanobu Asano, Fumi Nikaido, Shinnosuke Abe and Tokuma Nishioka for their strong character work. IGN described some of the supporting cast as "stand-out", praising Néstor Carbonell as Rodrigues and Tadanobu Asano as Yabushige next to Jarvis' Blackthorne, "a force to be reckoned with." Emmanuel Ronquillo of Collider also highlighted the "understated but expressive performance" of Moeka Hoshi in the show.

Series creators Rachel Kondo and Justin Marks's adaptation of the novel also received positive responses, with Daniel Fienberg from The Hollywood Reporter stating that "this Shōgun finds much more traction as an ambitious game of political chess." IGN writes "Creators Justin Marks and Rachel Kondo have crafted a version of feudal Japan filled with visual splendor, brutality, and intrigue" while remaining "highly faithful to James Clavell's bestselling novel". For Variety, Alison Herman attributes the show's success to "creators Justin Marks and Rachel Kondo [having] tapped into the true secret sauce of epic television: a balance between sweeping grandeur and intimate psychology."