Shōgun (2024 TV series)

Shōgun
File:Shōgun 2024 poster.jpg Release poster
Genre	Historical drama Military
Created by	Rachel Kondo Justin Marks
Based on	Shōgun by James Clavell
Starring	Hiroyuki Sanada Cosmo Jarvis Anna Sawai Tadanobu Asano Takehiro Hira Tommy Bastow Fumi Nikaido
Composers	Atticus Ross Leopold Ross Nick Chuba
Country of origin	United States
Original languages	English Japanese
No. of episodes	2
Production
Executive producers	Edward L. McDonnell Justin Marks Rachel Kondo Andrew Macdonald Allon Reich Michael De Luca Michaela Clavell
Producers	Erin Smith Hiroyuki Sanada Eriko Miyagawa Jamie Vega Wheeler Tom Winchester
Editors	Maria Gonzales (ep. 1) Aika Miyake (ep. 2)
Running time	55–70 minutes
Production companies	Gate 34 Michael De Luca Productions FXP
Original release
Network	Hulu FX
Release	February 27, 2024 (2024-02-27) – present (present)

Shōgun is an American historical drama limited series created by Rachel Kondo and Justin Marks. It is based on the 1975 novel of the same name by James Clavell, which was previously adapted into a 1980 limited series. The series premiered with its first two episodes on February 27, 2024, on Hulu and FX, with new episodes of the 10-episode series then releasing weekly.

Premise

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

Clavell's Shōgun is a fictionalized version of real events and history. Told in both Japanese and English, the English portion of the dialog would have been in Portuguese in reality. The character of Blackthorne is loosely based on the historical English navigator William Adams, who in Japan rose to become a samurai under the strongest powerful daimyō and later the founder and first shōgun of the Tokugawa Shogunate of Japan, Tokugawa Ieyasu, whose life and reign lasted from 1543 to 1616 and on whom Shōgun's character Yoshii Toranaga is based.

Cast

In the following lists, the names in parenthesis represent the historical figure upon which the character is based.

Main

• Hiroyuki Sanada as Lord Yoshii Toranaga (Tokugawa Ieyasu (1543–1616))
• Cosmo Jarvis as Pilot-Major John Blackthorne (William Adams (1564–1620))
• Anna Sawai as Toda Mariko (Hosokawa Gracia (1563–1600))
• Tadanobu Asano as Kashigi Yabushige (Honda Masanobu (1538–1616))
• Takehiro Hira as Ishido Kazunari (Ishida Mitsunari (1559–1600))
• Tommy Bastow as Father Martin Alvito (João Rodrigues Tçuzu (1561–1634))
• Fumi Nikaido as Ochiba No Kata (Yodo-dono (1569–1615))

Recurring

• Hiroto Kanai as Kashigi Omi (Honda Masazumi (1566–1637))
• Moeka Hoshi as Usami Fuji
• Shinnosuke Abe as Toda Buntaro (Hosokawa Tadaoki (1563–1646))
• Tokuma Nishioka as Toda "Iron Fist" Hiromatsu (Hosokawa Fujitaka (1534–1610))
• Yukijiro Hotaru as Nakamura Hidetoshi, later the Taiko (Toyotomi Hideyoshi (1537–1598))
• Yasunari Takeshima as Muraji
• Yuki Kura as Yoshii Nagakado (Matsudaira Tadayoshi (1580-1607))
• Yuka Kouri as Kiku
• Yoriko Dōguchi as Kiri No Kata (Lady Acha (1555-1637))
• Ako as Daiyoin / Lady Iyo (Kōdai-in (1549–1624))
• Toshi Toda as Sugiyama (Maeda Toshiie (1539-1599))
• Hiro Kanagawa as Igurashi
• Junichi Tajiri as Uejiro
• Néstor Carbonell as Vasco Rodrigues
• Nobuya Shimamoto as Nebara Jozen
• Yuki Kedoin as Takemaru
• Mako Fujimoto as Shizu No Kata
• Haruno Niiyama as Natsu No Kata
• Joaquim de Almeida as Father Domingo
• Paulino Nunes as Father Paul Dell'Aqua
• Hiromoto Ida as Kiyama ukon Sadanaga (Konishi Yukinaga (1555-1600))
• Takeshi Kurokawa as Ohno Harunobu (Otani Yoshitsugu (1558-1600))
• Yuko Miyamoto as Gin
• Yoshi Amao as Sera

Episodes

No.	Title	Directed by	Written by	Original air date	U.S. viewers (millions)
1	"Anjin"	Jonathan van Tulleken	Rachel Kondo & Justin Marks	February 27, 2024 (2024-02-27)	0.764
In 1600, a lone Dutch trading ship Erasmus and its starving surviving crew arrive at Anjiro on the coast of Japan. The ship had been part of a five ship and 500 crew Dutch fleet, of which all had been lost at sea except the few of Erasmus left to arrive in Japan. After the captain's suicide, Pilot-Major John Blackthorne, the ship's English navigator, is taken prisoner by samurai warriors. The Japanese leader Taikō has just died, leaving the rule split among five equal daimyō regents designated by the deceased Taikō to protect his child heir son, Yaechiyo Nakamura, at Osaka Castle (those being Ishido Kazunari, Sugiyama, Kiyama ukon Sadanaga, Ohno Harunobu, and Yoshii Toranaga). Toranaga is descended from the House of Minowara (but also see Minamoto clan), a historically powerful family in feudal Japan. The entrenched Portuguese traders and the Catholic Church's Jesuit order are the religious enemies of Protestant Queen Elizabeth's Englishman Blackthorne. The Jesuits, who consider any Protestant a heretic, immediately attempt to have Blackthorne executed by the Japanese as a declared pirate. At Osaka Castle, the other four regents initiate the process to impeach and thereby condemn to death Toranaga and all his clansmen. A spy in Anjiro sends a messenger pigeon to Toranaga about the captive Blackthorne, and Toranaga orders the foreign navigator (Anjin) to be brought to the castle. Another navigator, Vasco Rodrigues, a Spaniard in service of the Portuguese, sails a Japanese ship to bring Blackthorne and the Erasmus cargo to Osaka, but along the way, a storm wave washes Rodrigues overboard and Blackthorne takes command of the ship and saves Rodrigues (as well as his captor, Kashigi Yabushige).
2	"Servants of Two Masters"	Jonathan van Tulleken	Rachel Kondo & Justin Marks	February 27, 2024 (2024-02-27)	0.764
In a flashback to the 1599 death of the Taikō, the appointment of the five regents are made, but the dying leader admits he only trusts Toranaga. Back in 1600, Rodrigues gives Blackthorne's confiscated rutter (instructions for the nautical navigation to Japan through the Strait of Magellan) and journal to the Jesuits. The journal contains both a description of Queen Elizabeth's royal warrant to open trade and protect that trade on her behalf in Japan and a description of the secret Spanish and Portuguese trade intelligence. At the first interview of Blackthorne, both Toda Mariko (who is also fluent in Latin and Portuguese) and the Jesuit priest Martin Alvito translate in Portuguese for Blackthorne. Blackthorne states that, although both he and the Jesuit are Christians, both are enemies of different faiths. Upon Ishido's sudden arrival, Toranaga feigns disinterest in Blackthorne and has Blackthorne thrown into prison to keep him from Ishido. Privately, Toranaga muses that he can use Blackthorne's presence to sow division between Ishido and the Christian daimyō, Kiyama and Ohno. While in prison Blackthorne meets another prisoner falsely foresworn by the rival Jesuits to the Japanese, the Franciscan Friar, Father Domingo, who explains that Blackthorne's Japanese sponsor, Toranaga, is one of five competing samurai warlords attempting to ascend to the most powerful position in Japan, the shōgun, the military governor of Japan, a position vacant since 1573. Domingo informs Blackthorne that Toranaga is currently losing. Further, Domingo informs Blackthorne that the Portuguese Black Ship has been taking the vast profits from the silk trade between China and Japan back to Europe using a secret military base at Japan's greatest enemy of China located in Macao guarded by Catholic-converted brigand rōnin. He also tells Blackthorne that the Portuguese Church had smuggled guns from Macau to Japan to incite uprising against the Taikō. A unanimous order by the other four Bugyoshu (the word Busho is used in the television show) is needed to impeach Toranaga (Bugyoshu and Go-Bugyoshu instead of the names Tairō and Go-Tairō which would not be used until the Tokugawa shogunate had begun). Ishido calls for a vote on Toranaga's impeachment, but Kiyama and Ohno refuse to sign until Blackthorne is executed due to his Protestant faith. Ishido protests that the other daimyō show deference to the Jesuits but signs the order to have him executed. Later, Toranaga's opportunistic retainer, Yabushige, convinces Ishido that Blackthorne could be useful in discerning the Christians' plans for Japan. When he is taken to be executed, Blackthorne is rescued by Yabushige's men. Toranaga remarks at the "luck" of Yabushige being at the right place and at right time to rescue the condemned Blackthorne. In a second interview with Toranaga (with Mariko serving this time as sole translator), Blackthorne is asked to draw a map of the world in sand spread out on the ground acting as a canvas, and there, represent England, Portugal, and Japan. Blackthorne reveals that Portugal and Spain are in conflict with his native England and have laid claim since 1494 over Japan. He reveals that their end goal is to replace Japan's government with a Catholic one. Toranaga, Mariko, and all Japanese present are shocked to hear that all of Japan's land and citizens "belong" to the King of Portugal. Further, Blackthorne explains that a secret Portuguese base in Macau employed rōnin and smuggled guns that had been used in an "uprising" against the Taikō a few years earlier. Mariko tells Toranaga that she is uncertain what "uprising" Blackthorne is referring to. Afterwards, Blackthorne humbly thanks Mariko for her honest translation. In retaliation against the Portuguese and Jesuits over what he had just learned, Toranaga bars the Portuguese Black Ship from leaving Osaka. That night, an assassin sent by Kiyama on behalf of the Jesuits nearly kills Toranaga, who is saved by Blackthorne. But, after realizing that the assassin was in Blackthorne's room, Toranaga determines that the assassin's target was Blackthorne. As part of the episode, in a post episode documentary to assist in the difficulty in Western audiences understanding non Western thought, the show's producers give a synopsis of the historical silk worm trade immersed in the Japanese and Christian cultural, religious, and political elements of the three main characters in the television series (Blackthorne, Mariko, and Toranaga).
3	"Tomorrow is Tomorrow"	Charlotte Brändström	Shannon Goss	March 5, 2024 (2024-03-05)	N/A
4	"The Eightfold Fence"	Frederick Toye	Emily Yoshida	March 12, 2024 (2024-03-12)	N/A
5	"Broken to the Fist"	Frederick Toye	Matt Lambert	March 19, 2024 (2024-03-19)	N/A
6	"Ladies of the Willow World"	Hiromi Kamata	Maegan Houang	March 26, 2024 (2024-03-26)	N/A
7	"A Stick of Time"	Unknown	Matt Lambert	April 2, 2024 (2024-04-02)	N/A
8	"The Abyss of Life"	Emmanuel Osei-Kuffour	Shannon Goss	April 9, 2024 (2024-04-09)	N/A
9	"Crimson Sky"	Unknown	Rachel Kondo & Caillin Puente	April 16, 2024 (2024-04-16)	N/A
10	"A Dream of a Dream"	Unknown	Maegan Houang & Emily Yoshida	April 23, 2024 (2024-04-23)	N/A

Takeshi Fukunaga directed one episode of the series.

Production

Hiroyuki Sanada, one of the producers of the series, portrays Lord Yoshii Toranaga.

Development

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. Patten will also direct the series, and Bennett will also write. FX Productions is slated to serve as the production company for the series. Hiroyuki Sanada serves as a producer and lead actor.

In an interview with USA Today, Sanada expressed his role as a producer, saying "After 20 years in Hollywood, I'm a producer. It means I can say anything, anytime". 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."

Filming

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 wasn't in good enough shape and that they wanted to aim higher. 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 was no longer available to keep working on scripts, they started over from scratch with new writer and executive producer Justin Marks, working alongside his wife, supervising producer Rachel Kondo. The series' writing team also includes co-executive producer Shannon Goss, consulting producer Matt Lambert, script editor Maegan Houang, and staff writer Emily Yoshida.

On September 22, 2021, principal photography for the series began in Vancouver, the United Kingdom, and Japan, lasting until June 30, 2022, a full two months longer than expected. 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 pine tree used on set was donated and planted after filming to the City Hall of Port Moody.

Marketing

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 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?"

Release

Shōgun premiered with its first two episodes on February 27, 2024, on Hulu and FX. The remainder of the 10-episode series will release weekly. Internationally, the series will be available on Disney+ and Star+ in Latin America and Disney+ (via Star in other territories.) An English dub of the series is available on Hulu. A companion podcast was also released for each episode.

Reception

Critical response

Shōgun received critical acclaim worldwide. On the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, 99% of 72 critics' reviews are positive. The website's 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 84 out of 100 based on 38 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 are Cosmo Jarvis' more neutered 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 Cunnigham 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 "subdued lord 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, Shinosuke 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".

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" whilst 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 have tapped into the true secret sauce of epic television: a balance between sweeping grandeur and intimate psychology."

Reception in Japan

In Japan, the series received mostly positive reviews by audiences on Eiga.com. Japanese comedian and history buff Kunihiro Matsumura also praised the series for its authenticity. Ken Matsudaira, who played Tokugawa Yoshimune in The Unfettered Shogun and played Tokugawa Ieyasu (who was the model for main character, Yoshii Toranaga) three times in his acting career, praised Sanada's skilled acting and his effort to bring more historical authenticity to the series, which Sanada also serves as a producer.

External links

• Shōgun at FX
• Shōgun on Hulu
• Shōgun at IMDb