Great news for fans of Shōgun! The Emmy-winning historical drama is officially coming back for a second season, and yes, your favorite leads are returning. According to fresh reports, Cosmo Jarvis, who plays the fearless English navigator John Blackthorne, has signed on to reprise his role. He’ll be joining Hiroyuki Sanada, who plays the powerful Lord Toranaga and had already renewed his contract back in May.
With both lead actors confirmed, FX has announced that the new season will be a completely original storyline, not directly adapted from author James Clavell’s novel this time. While Season 1 was based on Clavell’s Shōgun, the upcoming episodes will instead build a fresh narrative that continues the epic, historically inspired tale of these two men from vastly different worlds, whose lives remain tightly intertwined.
Writers and showrunners have admitted that creating Season 2 from scratch is a unique challenge, since none of Clavell’s other novels continue the story of Shōgun. However, they’ve still drawn inspiration from the original novel to craft a story that feels authentic and true to the world fans fell in love with.
Production for Season 2 is scheduled to kick off in January, once again in Vancouver, Canada, the same location where Season 1 was filmed. As for why the series isn’t being shot in Japan, FX chairman John Landgraf explained that it’s largely a matter of logistics. According to him, while filming in Japan would have been ideal, the size and scale of the production simply couldn’t be matched by the locations there. Most medieval Japanese castles either no longer exist in their historical form, or they can’t be used for filming even if they do.
“There’s just a little difference,” Landgraf explained, regarding the facilities in Japan versus what’s available in Vancouver. “We’ve had trouble matching the location and the scale of what we’re capable of achieving there with the ambition of the show.”
While fans still have to wait for more plot details, this update is definitely a promising start. The second season of Shōgun promises a new direction, new challenges, and the return of familiar faces, and if Season 1 was any indication, viewers are in for another visually stunning, emotionally charged ride through feudal Japan.
Stay tuned, more updates are on the way soon!