Star and producer Hiroyuki Sanada has reportedly agreed to come back as Toranaga.
Will there actually be a Shōgun Season 2?!? Deadline broke news today that suggests FX is in the midst of making major moves to make a second season of the Hulu hit a reality. According to the trade, Shōgun star and producer Hiroyuki Sanada has inked a deal to return as Yoshii Toranaga in a potential second season. Even though Shōgun was initially designed as a limited series simply adapting James Clavell’s landmark 1975 novel of the same name, the series’s critical and commercial success opens the door for more. Not only that, but the series ends with Sanada’s lead character, Toranaga, becoming Shōgun, ushering in a fascinating period of peace…that did not come without some historic drama. (We’re looking at you, Fumi Nikaido, and your character, Lady Ochiba…)
Shōgun is a fictionalized account of the real historic events that ushered in Japan’s Edo Period, a time of great wealth, peace, and prosperity for the nation. Toranaga is a stand-in for Tokugawa Ieyasu, the revered Japanese warlord credited with bringing the dream of a unified Japan to fruition.
As Sanada told Decider back at Winter 2024 TCA, “Toranaga’s model, Ieyasu, stopped the war period and then created a peaceful era for about 260 years. That’s a big thing. That’s why he became a hero in Japan. So we need to show this story, his life to the world.”
But just because Ieyasu’s story is just getting started, that doesn’t necessarily mean the world needs more Shōgun. The story, written by James Clavell, ends right on the precipice of this great peace.
