In a new interview with the Hollywood Reporter, Hiroyuki Sanada detailed the second season of ‘Shogun.’
“We have a writers room, and they’re working every day. Hopefully sometime next year, we can start shooting,” said the actor about the current progress of the upcoming seasons of the show.
Sanada continued, replying to a question about how the show will create interesting stories from a time known for its peace, “There are so many famous episodes in Japan. Toranaga’s strategies are like a chess game. It’s not only about fighting.”
He added, “Human drama is important. There will be new characters coming in, and we’re going to basically follow the real history in seasons two and three. Before the peaceful era came, there were a lot of dramatic moments.”
This isn’t the first time Sanada talked about the second season of the show. The actor shared with Variety what he finds advantageous for ‘Shogun’, “We don’t have the novel. Freedom is there… I hope our writers will enjoy the freedom and respect the novel of course.”
The show will have a second and third season, as confirmed in May. Co-creators Justin Marks and Rachel Kondo have shared what to expect. “We told the story of the book to the end of the book, down to exactly the way the book ended,” Marks said. “We’re very proud of that because the book ends so beautifully and boldly in this very unexpected and meditative kind of way. So, the story is complete.”
He added the following about the second season, “I don’t know. It’s gonna take some some recovery to think about what will be next. But honestly, it’s hard because you don’t have a master storyteller to set the map for you. So that would be a tough one.”
‘Shogun’ is set in 1600s Japan and follows Lord Toranaga as he faces political challenges and uses a British pilot to gain power. The show is mostly in Japanese with English subtitles.
