A second season of Shogun already feels like a huge risk. For all its critical acclaim, it was originally a limited series, so the idea of the story continuing without many of the cast members that made its first season so potent is bittersweet. There’s also the matter of its source material: James Clavell’s 1975 novel was adapted in full in Season 1.
Executive producer and star Hiroyuki Sanada is teaming with co-creators and showrunners Justin Marks and Rachel Kondo, as well as Clavell’s estate, to extend Shogun for not just one additional season, but two. Their story will have to go far beyond the novel, and according to a new update, Shogun Season 2 will take a big swing to try pulling it all off.
Shogun Season 2 is heading into production next year. Marks and Kondo recently wrapped the writers’ room, and production will begin in Vancouver in January 2026. FX also teased that Season 2 takes place “10 years after the events of the first season.” It will be “a wholly original new chapter” following Sanada’s leading man, Yoshii Toranaga, on his quest to usurp Ishido Kazunari (Takehiro Hira) as absolute ruler of Japan.
Apart from Sanada, FX has only confirmed one other cast member for Season 2. Cosmo Jarvis will reprise his role as John Blackthorne, the English sailor who learns to embrace Japanese culture after his ship washes up in Toranaga’s territory. Season 2 will “continue the historically-inspired saga of these two men from different worlds whose fates are inextricably entwined,” meaning Blackthorne will be instrumental in Toranaga’s ascendancy.
There were plenty of casualties in Season 1, so several actors, like Anna Sawai, who swept awards season for her portrayal of Lady Toda Mariko, won’t be able to return. A 10-year time jump frees Shogun to introduce a new group of characters and essentially reinvent its world. Given how beloved Shogun became in 2024, continuing it is already a risk; FX might as well go all the way.
