Washington [US], May 1— FX has confirmed new details about the much-anticipated second season of its Emmy-winning historical drama series Shogun, with production scheduled to begin in January in Vancouver, where the original season was filmed.
Cosmo Jarvis will return as English navigator John Blackthorne, reuniting with Hiroyuki Sanada, who reprises his role as Lord Yoshii Toranaga. The second season will take place 10 years after the events of the first and will serve as a wholly original continuation of the saga, as reported by Deadline.
While the original season closely followed James Clavell’s 1975 novel, creators Rachel Kondo and Justin Marks revealed that the new chapter pulls from unused content and characters from the book to build a fresh narrative, since Clavell’s other novels in the Asian Saga don’t share Shogun’s characters.
Sanada will step up as an executive producer, and Jarvis joins the production team as a co-executive producer.
FX chairman John Landgraf stated that while a third season is not guaranteed, the creative team believes three seasons would best capture the depth of the characters and historical themes. However, there are no current plans to film the second and third seasons back-to-back.