‘Shōgun’ Will Have Two (!) More Seasons

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If you're following along with Esquire's entertainment coverage, you'll know that this has been a damn good week for television news. Just in the past few days alone, we saw the first images from The Last of Us season 2 (Pedro Pascal's mullet!), a 3 Body Problem season 2 renewal, and a delightful teaser for Only Murders in the Building season 4.

Somehow, we just heard news that beats even Pedro's flow. Not even a week ago, Variety reported that Hiroyuki Sanada signed a deal with FX to return as Toranaga in Shōgun season 2. Ready for it? FX just announced that Shōgun will return for two more seasons. Given that until last week, we didn’t expect to see any more episodes after the season 1 finale, we're beyond excited. In the wake of FX's announcement, let's run down everything we know about the future of Shōgun.

Will Shōgun Return for Season 2?

Heck yes it will. Let us kick it to FX's press release: "FX, Hulu and the Estate of James Clavell are working to extend the critically acclaimed global hit drama Shōgun, moving forward to develop the saga with two additional seasons of the drama series. The show’s key creative partners including co-Creators, Executive Producers and Writers Justin Marks and Rachel Kondo, Executive Producer Michaela Clavell, and series star and producer Hiroyuki Sanada are on board for the development. Production timing has not been locked in, but a writers’ room is being assembled and will begin this summer."

Shōgun is based on James Clavell’s 1975 novel of the same name, which has a definitive ending—that the FX series adapted in part. The author wrote many more novels after Shōgun as part of his “Asian Saga,” but none of the stories return to the same characters from Shōgun. Notably, FX's press release says, "The story and characters are intended to continue the saga," seemingly hinting that season 2 will pick up where season 1 left off. "It’s hard, but I will say that if there were any stories of any kind to be told, they would have to be just as good as the book, and I don’t know if those stories exist," showrunner Justin Marks told Esquire last month.

Should the Shōgun team continue to explore the Tokugawa shogunate, there’s plenty of Japanese history after 1600 to adapt. After gaining the title of shōgun, Tokugawa consolidates power for the next fifteen years. At sixty-five years old, he has a new task: to successfully turn the shogunate over to his son, Hidetada. He also maintains a friendship with John Blackthorne’s counterpart, William Adams. Eventually, he’s even forced to siege Osaka Castle when the Taikō’s heir finally comes of age and leads a rebellion. So Shōgun definitely has more story to tell.

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