'Shōgun' Season 2 Is in the Works (2024)

When asked if they'd return for a season two, Shōgun co-creators (and married couple) Justin Marks and Rachel Kondo share a smile. "You'll have to ask our kids," Marks tells T&C.

He continues, "We told the story of the book to the end of the book, down to exactly the way the book ended." (Shōgun is adapted from James Clavell's book of the same name.) "We're very proud of that because the book ends so beautifully and boldly in this very unexpected and meditative kind of way. So, the story is complete."

Marks adds, "We spent five years on this and it [felt] like thirty in terms of just that level of detail that you have to put in every single day." Plus, he added, "the elements" of filming were tough, saying, "We didn't have the nicest British Columbia winter that year when we shot it." The show was initially meant to film in Japan, but due to the pandemic, had to film in Canada.

So the verdict on a Shōgun season two? "I don't know," Marks told T&C candidly before the season began. "It's gonna take some some recovery to think about what will be next. But honestly, it's hard because you don't have a master storyteller to set the map for you. So that would be a tough one."

However, in May 2024, a big update was announced: FX, Hulu and the Estate of James Clavell shared they are "working to extend the critically acclaimed global hit drama Shōgun, moving forward to develop the saga with two additional seasons of the drama series." On board for a second (and third!) season include Marks and Kondo, along with Executive Producer Michaela Clavell, and Hiroyuki Sanada, the show's star and producer.

In a new interview, Marks revealed, "There were a lot of questions that we felt were still unanswered in the story." He continued, "Not the least of which is that the title character doesn’t become the title character. And yeah, that’s really when you have history on your side, what you don’t have on your side is this wonderful book moving forward. There are no roads where we’re going. I would be lying if I said we have the answers right now. We have been speaking with one of our historical advisors who we cherish, and talking just about, 'Tell us a little more about William Adams here and Tokugawa Ieyasu there, and tell us about some new characters and some new things that are going on. And OK, yeah. Interesting.'"

He added, "We know how all of this ends in the final moment. And once we saw that moment, we said, 'Oh, now we have to get to that. Now we have to do that.' And that felt much more honest in the way we were searching."

Sanada, in particular, is looking forward to more Shōgun. "We don’t have any novels anymore, but it means for the writers a kind of freedom. We have history. We have real models, and we know what happened. So many episodes are there in the history. So, I hope the writers will enjoy that freedom. These kind of things are already in our DNA, I believe. So, with respect for [Clavell], his style, they create original stories freely. I’m so curious, and I cannot wait to read the first draft from them," he said.

In another interview, Sanada said he hopes some fan favorite characters could return despite their season one deaths. “No Mariko, no Yabushige, no Hiromatsu. Those lovely characters are gone. The actor Tokuma Nishioka, who played Hiromatsu, said in an interview recently that he and Yabushige would be coming back as zombies. (Laughs.) I have no idea yet. But they very well could come back somehow. Who knows? Ghosts? Flashbacks? Another character’s dream?” he told the Hollywood Reporter.

Season two will hopefully go into production during summer 2025, but no specific date has been announced yet.

We'll update this as we learn more about Shōgun season two.