Last May, it was announced that the extremely popular samurai drama revival, “Shogun,” would get two more seasons but given that the first acclaimed and award-winning season used up all the source material from the James Clavell novel there have been some questions about where they are going next.
Disney‘s co-chairman Dana Walden, the parent company of FX, briefly commented on the status of that second season at a recent conference on Tuesday (via Deadline).
Walden stated, “We like to bake it carefully. We will not release season two until it’s ready.” A comment that expresses some very level-headed use of restraint given how popular the show has been for their streaming services, Hulu and Disney+/Star.
By the sounds of things they’re waiting for the show is in a really good place before moving forward with filming, which is, of course, the way it should be from a creative perspective.
With that in mind, making sure they have the right ideas and direction for the fictionalized drama, that mines actual events and people from Japanese history, is going to be key. Creatives like co-showrunners Justin Marks and Rachel Kondo will have a mountain to climb to match the audience and critical success with those two gestating follow-up seasons.
We’re sort of in the dark about where they will be going, however, the series could easily grab more Japanese historical events and rework them for the dramatic series such as the true-life story of the 47 Ronin (a group of masterless samurai attempt to get revenge for their Lord by storming a fortified castle before the surviving warriors commit ritual suicide).
Neither FX nor Disney have announced when they hope to start filming or airing the second season, but Marks has previously revealed there is already work going on in the writers’ room for the 10 episodes that would see Emmy-winner Hiroyuki Sanada return as Lord Toranaga, the titular Shogun.