Shogun Season 2 Cast, Release Date Speculation, Plot, and More

Season 2 of “Shogun” is officially underway.

Shogun was, for many people, myself included, the best show of 2024 so far. In fact, it was so good that the miniseries has been renewed for a second season and possibly even a third. It doesn’t get much more impressive than that.

However, you may be wondering what exactly will happen in Season 2, when it will happen, and – perhaps most importantly – who will be in it. After all, the cast was a highlight of the show, which is set in a slightly fictionalized Japan before the Tokugawa shogunate, and secured five acting award nominations at this year’s Emmys. Given that this show was surprisingly greenlit for more seasons, it’s not impossible that certain people may not return for the yet-to-be-determined filming of Season 2.

Don’t worry, we’ve got you covered. Here’s everything you need to know about Shogun season 2, including cast and release date rumors, plot speculation, and more.

Rumors about the release date of season 2 of “Shogun”

Currently, we know very little about when we can expect Shogun Season 2. The only official information comes from the initial announcement from FX and Hulu, where it was confirmed that a writing team was planned to be set up in the summer of 2024.

Luckily, the show’s star and co-producer Hiroyuki Sanada has given us an update on the status of the season 2 writers’ room. During his appearance on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert in August 2024, Sanada revealed that the writers’ room has just opened (h/t MovieWeb). Along with showrunners Justin Marks and Rachel Kondo, this group is hard at work brainstorming ideas for the upcoming season.

This brainstorming will be very important since there is no longer any source material to work with, the historical novel by James Clavell. Since the show was conceived as a limited season, the plan was to film the entire book in one season and that’s exactly what they did.

Since the scripts have not even been written yet, We assume that the second season of “Shogun” will be released in 2025 at the earliest. It could be released in 2025, but between script, casting and production, that would be a potentially impossible request from FX and Hulu. Sanada essentially confirmed this, telling the Hollywood Reporter: “Hopefully sometime next year [2025]we can start shooting.”

Cast of the second season of “Shogun”

From here on, spoilers for “Shogun” seasons 1 and 2 are possible

(Image credit: Future)

Unlike most returning shows, we don’t know much about the cast of Shogun Season 2. In fact, currently the only confirmed cast member is Hiroyuki Sanada, who played Lord Yoshii Toranaga in the first season and will return in Season 2.

Shogun poster

(Image credit: FX)

What we do know is which main characters are most likely habit return in season 2.

While Cosmo Jarvis may return as English pilot John Blackthorne, Anna Sawai, Tadanobu Asano and Takehiro Hira most likely won’t return as Toda Mariko, Kashigi Yabushige and Ishido Kazunari. All three performances were incredible – all three were Emmy nominated – but without giving too much away, let’s just say their character arcs were wrapped up without much ambiguity. Still, the show’s editor Maria Gonzalez told ScreenRant that she would “love to see some of these characters come back in some form or another.”

This is in line with comments Sanada made during press for the Emmy Awards campaign for the first season of Shogun. Speaking to Variety, Sanada said, “Half of the existing cast will be returning and the other half will be new characters.”

As soon as we learn more about the cast of Shogun season 2, we will update this section accordingly.

Summary of the first season of “Shogun”

Hiroyuki Sanada and Anna Sawai in Shogun

(Image credit: Alamy)

If you haven’t seen Shogun yet, stop what you’re doing and binge-watch the 10-episode season. It’s the best show you’ve seen this year. But for anyone who needs a refresher, here’s a quick recap of the first season.

Shogun begins with the arrival of pilot Major John Blackthorne (Cosmo Jarvis) in feudal Japan at the turn of the 17th century. Five regents rule Japan in place of Nakamura Yaechiyo (Sen Mars), the heir of the late Taiko. These regents allow some access to the Catholic Church and the Portuguese, but little else from the outside world is allowed into Japan. It is into this world that Blackthorne arrives when one of these regents, Lord Yoshii Toranaga, captures Blackthorne and his crew when their abandoned ship Erasmus arrives in Japanese waters.

Blackthorne does not speak Japanese, so when he is taken to Lord Toranaga in Osaka, Lady Toda Mariko (Anna Sawai) is asked to translate, as both she and Blackthorne are fluent in Portuguese.

What follows is a brilliant gambit from Toranaga throughout the rest of the season. He throws Blackthorne in prison to sow discord among the other regents, led by Ishido Kazunari (Takehiro Hira), who seeks to have Toranaga impeached and executed. Blackthorne is sent to be executed, but is then saved by Toranaga’s vassal Kashigi Yabushige (Tadanobu Asano), who had originally attempted to have Blackthorne and his men executed when the Erasmus sailed to Japan.

But Torananga never intends to kill Blackthorne. After learning from Blackthorne that the Portuguese ultimately want to colonize Japan, Toranaga flees Osaka with Blackthorne, Mariko, and Yabushige. He turns Blackthorne into a Hamamoto and instructs the English sailor to teach Toranaga’s men Western military tactics – namely, the use of cannons.

Cosmo Jarvis in Shogun

(Image credit: Alamy)

While Blackthorne trains some of Toranaga’s men in the use of cannon artillery, he leaves them to seek out the rest of his army. He also resigns as regent, giving Ishido no right to impeach Toranaga until a fifth regent is chosen. This buys Toranaga time, which he desperately needs after his son Yoshii Nagakado (Yuki Kura) impulsively kills some of Ishido’s men.

This sets off a chain of events that ultimately forces Toranaga to invoke “Crimson Sky”, a plan to defeat Ishido and claim the regency for himself. As part of this plan, Toranago enlists the assistance of his estranged half-brother Saeki Nobutatsu (Eita Okuno). However, Saeki has already agreed to become the fifth regent and captures Toranaga and his forces, forcing Toranaga to surrender to Ishido and the regents in Osaka.

But things change suddenly when Nagakado dies in a fight with Saeki. Toranaga turns away from Osaka and instead returns to his city of Edo (Tokyo), where he has to mourn his son for 49 days.

Ultimately, it is Blackthorne, Mariko, and Yabushige who arrive in Osaka. They come to surrender in Blackthorne’s name, but at night, a shinobi attack on Osaka Castle ends in Mariko’s death. This forces the Regents to declare war on Toranaga, but allows Blackthorne, Yabushige, and Toranaga’s companions to escape Osaka. Yabushige is then revealed to be a traitor, and Toranaga orders him to commit seppuku (ritual suicide). Before Yabushige kills himself, however, Toranaga reveals that he has been pulling certain strings all along, and we see a flash forward to Toranaga’s victory over Ishido at the Battle of Sekigahara.

While this may not be the shortest overview, I promise I haven’t done even close to justice to the first season. I’ve especially overlooked the importance of Mariko and Yabushige to some extent.

I also completely overlooked the important contributions of several women to the story. Mariko’s relationship with Ochiba no Kata (Fumi Nikaido), the late Taiko’s chief consort, ultimately decides the Battle of Sekigahara, and Usami Fuji (Moeka Hoshi) is crucial to Blackthorne’s integration into Japanese culture as his consort. These three women may deliver some of the best performances in the series, but their roles are often deeper and more nuanced than a superficial summary can show.

Speculations about the plot of the second season of “Shogun”

Shogun Season 1

(Image credit: Hulu / Disney)

As mentioned above, Season 1 of Shogun focused on a retelling of James Clavell’s 1975 novel of the same name, which depicts a fictionalized version of the transition from the Azuchi-Momoyama period to the Edo period in feudal Japan.

Season 2, however… well, we’re not sure what story Season 2 will tell. Both the novel and Season 1 end with the Battle of Sekigahara, so there’s no other material there to use. Nor is there any material from the rest of Clavell’s Asian Saga novels, all of which are set centuries after the events of Shogun.

This means that the series will have to draw on Japanese history in season 2 and possibly season 3 as well, something Hiroyuki Sanada has confirmed. In an interview with The Hollywood Reporter, the man set to portray Toranaga said, “There will be new characters and we will essentially follow the true story in seasons 2 and 3.” However, he said that despite this historical orientation, the show’s writers will have creative freedom to write whatever storylines they want.

Freedom, however, is a relative term. As ScreenRant reports, future seasons of the series will be based on guidelines laid out in a “900-page ‘bible'” that is “steeped in Japanese history and was used on set as a sort of bible for all the different rules of the time, whether it was costumes or the way people of different rank viewed each other in public.” This series bible was also used in the writing and production of the first season.

Whatever chapters of the story they pull from, expect a potentially darker second season. At an FX FYC event, showrunner Justin Marks said, “We’re just focusing on part two right now to really make sure we get to that point. But part two is a darker chapter as far as second chapters go” (h/t Collider).

topicnews · August 28, 2024

Shogun Season 2 Cast, Release Date Speculation, Plot, and More

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