Will there be a Shogun Season 2?

Shogun is of the most acclaimed TV shows of the year, and with Season 1 ending, talk is turning to whether there will be a Season 2, so here’s what we know.

Shogun is the second TV adaptation of James Clavell’s acclaimed 1975 novel about an Englishman’s adventures in Japan at the start of the 17th century.

Loosely based on a true story, the hero is nevertheless the fictional John Blackthorne, known to some as the heretic, and others as the Anjin, which translates as navigator.

The 10 episodes saw Blackthrone become involved in a civil war, and very nearly lose his head multiple times. You can find out how his story played out in our ending explainer, while details of whether this particular tale continues can be found below. Just beware of SPOILERS AHEAD…

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Will there be a Shogun Season 2?

There are currently no plans for a Season 2 of Shogun. FX and Hulu — who aired the series in the States — haven’t greenlit a sequel. The showrunners aren’t working on a followup, and Season 1 ended in a satisfying and self-contained fashion.

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Speaking to The Hollywood Reporter in March, co-showrunner Justin Marks said of the show: “We took the story to the end of the book and put a period at the end of that sentence. We love how the book ends; it was one of the reasons why we both knew we wanted to do it — and we ended in exactly that place.”

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Marks added that if second season were to happen, it would already be up-and-running, stating Shogun is not like a “normal TV series, where if we were in a situation like this promoting it, we wouldn’t just be in the writers room already, we’d be on set shooting Season 2 by now.”

Second season depends on “audience appetite”

That said, Shogun has been a success for FX/Hulu/Star+/Disney+, with the series premiere pulling in a whopping 9 million viewers globally. So don’t entirely rule out a second season.

James Clavell wrote many more books, set before and after the events of Shogun, any one of which could be adapted into a series. While even though major characters like Lady Mariko and Kashigi Yabushige didn’t survive this season, the twin leads of John Blackthorne and Lord Toranga very much did.

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The author’s daughter Michaela Clavell served as executive producer on the new show, and when speaking to The Direct, was more optimistic, saying: “The audience will let us know whether there’s, there is their appetite for that. We shall see. It’s a great question. I wish I knew the complete answer, but I don’t.”

So while it’s a no for Shogun Season 2 right now, it also might be a case of “watch this space”. And if there’s any movement, rest assured we’ll update this article.

All 10 episodes of Shogun are available now, while you can head here for more streaming shows this month.