“Here’s how you screw up a good thing”: Hiroyuki Sanada’s Shogun Will Now Get a Season 3 That Leaves Fans Concerned for the Right Reason
Hiroyuki Sanada made his first major Hollywood appearance two decades ago in Tom Cruise’s The Last Samurai. Since then, he has appeared in supporting roles in some of the most popular action movies such as Rush Hour 3, Bullet Train, and John Wick: Chapter 4. His most recent venture is the historical drama TV series Shōgun.
The first season of Shōgun has been released to critical acclaim and fans are quite impressed with it. Recently, it has been announced that the show is getting one but two more seasons. However, fans are a little concerned about the show’s future because there is no source material for the new seasons to adapt from.
Hiroyuki Sanada’s Shōgun Is Getting Renewed for Two More Seasons
Shōgun, based on James Clavell’s eponymous 1975 novel, follows the stories of two ambitious men in two different worlds: John Blackthorne (Cosmo Jarvis) is a shipwrecked English sailor who reaches Japan and adapts to the unfamiliar culture, and Lord Yoshii Toranaga (Hiroyuki Sanada) is a powerful magnate in Japan who is feuding with his dangerous political rivals.
The novel was adapted for a miniseries in the 1980s, which was critically successful and even won several accolades including a Primetime Emmy Award, a Golden Globe Award, and even a Peabody Award. Almost four decades later, the new show premiered its first two episodes in February and wrapped it up by late April.
Recently, The Hollywood Reporter reported that two more seasons of the show are in development. FX said they are working on these two seasons with author James Clavell’s estate. Considering the source material has been used up in the making of the first season, what comes next will not come from Clavell’s book.
Creators Were Not Too Sure About a New Season
In an interview with The Hollywood Reporter, creators Rachel Kondo and Justin Marks opened up about a potential second season, but expressed doubt over it since the source material was exhausted. Marks said:
But it’s also about, not even topping the book, but, how do you even equal the roadmap that Clavell laid out? And I don’t know if it’s possible. I don’t know if Clavell could have done it either. That’s probably why he moved on to other books too, right? He knew what he had done. Yeah, it’s a tough one.
However, they seem to have a plan now because Kondo, Marks, executive producer Michaela Clavell, and actor Hiroyuki Sanada are joining hands for the development of the new seasons. A writers’ room will start working on finding a story beyond Clavell’s original novel in the summer.
What Are Fans Saying About Shōgun‘s Renewal?
Fans are usually not the ones to give up on a series that is as good as this one, but they do not seem to be on board with this game plan as some of them expressed their displeasure about it on X. Here is what some of them wrote:
Prime example of milking a franchise because of the results, leaving it ending as it did was the sacred way of going about it. Unless they do a prequel and follow the Karudo and Jinsai story
— Omen (@ProducedbyOmen) May 16, 2024
Here's how you screw up a good thing
— PoseidonKingOfHorror (@EvilDeadWorld) May 16, 2024
https://twitter.com/STGeneralKalani/status/1791192275046834495
So basically they gone spoil it because they can’t just have a little of a good thing smh
— Jay Dot Bizzle is a Hœ for 4s 🏴🏴☠️ (@jay_bizzz) May 16, 2024
The man wrote several novels you literally can adapt any one of them Shogun does not need a season 2 for fuck's sake. Hollywood really pisses me off sometimes
— Deus Ex Machina 🤖 (@NamekianProphet) May 16, 2024
https://twitter.com/johninsc1/status/1791192805982802160
Some fans are also defending this move as they insist that the series was great and history can be used as the source material even if Clavell does not have another book on it. Only time will tell if renewing the show is the right decision or wrong.
Shōgun Season 1 is available for streaming on Hulu.
