‘Shōgun’ Season 2 Wraps Filming, and the Decade-Long Time Jump Sounds Wild

Few shows have entered television history quite like ‘Shōgun‘ did back in 2024. FX’s adaptation of James Clavell’s historical novel swept the Emmys with a record-breaking eighteen wins, including Outstanding Drama Series, making it the first mostly non-English-language series to ever claim that top prize.

That kind of success created an unusual problem for the follow-up season, since the original run had already adapted the entirety of Clavell’s source material. With no more book left to draw from, the creative team had to build an original continuation from scratch, and they settled on jumping the story forward by a full decade to give themselves room to work.

That long wait finally reached a milestone this week, as production on the second season has officially wrapped. Emmy-winning costume designer Carlos Rosario confirmed the news over the weekend, closing out a shoot that stretched across roughly seven and a half months in Vancouver, the same city that hosted the acclaimed first season.

Hiroyuki Sanada and Cosmo Jarvis are both confirmed to reprise their leading roles as Lord Yoshii Toranaga and John Blackthorne, and both actors have stepped into bigger behind-the-scenes positions this time around, with Sanada joining as an executive producer and Jarvis as co-executive producer. Filming under the working title “Category 10,” the new season began shooting in late January and spanned sound stages at Burnaby’s Lake City Studios, an elaborate feudal Japan backlot in Port Moody, and additional locations scattered across British Columbia, from Minaty Bay to Kamloops.

The production even marked its completion with a wrap party at the Port Moody set in late August, complete with live music, drummers, a light show, and fireworks. Season two is expected to run for ten episodes, continuing the story of two men from vastly different worlds whose fates remain intertwined a decade after the events fans first watched unfold.

Returning cast members joining Sanada and Jarvis include Fumi Nikaidô, Shinnosuke Abe, Hiroto Kanai, Yoriko Dôguchi, Tommy Bastow, Yuko Miyamoto, Eita Okuno, and Yuka Kouri, with J-pop star Ren Meguro joining the cast in a new role. Several other new faces are set to appear as well, though the show has been characteristically quiet about which characters most of them will actually play, keeping the same air of mystery around casting that surrounded the first season before it premiered.

Given the ten-year jump, not every familiar face is expected to return. Anna Sawai’s Lady Mariko and Tadanobu Asano’s Yabushige both died during the first season’s events, making their return to the new timeline unlikely, though ‘Shōgun’ has built a reputation for surprising its audience before.

Hiroyuki Sanada and Anna Sawai star in the first trailer for ‘SHŌGUN’.

Releasing in February on FX & Hulu. pic.twitter.com/rzwsSCGXgZ

— DiscussingFilm (@DiscussingFilm) November 2, 2023

Season one ended with Toranaga’s political victory taking shape before the decisive historical events were fully shown on screen, leaving his actual rise to power still ahead of him. Moving the story forward a decade means season two isn’t simply resuming the same conflict where it left off, but picking up well after Toranaga has had years to consolidate whatever position he managed to claim.

With Rachel Kondo and Justin Marks remaining at the creative helm as executive producers and writers, the series now moves fully into post-production. No official premiere date has been announced yet, and given the scale of anticipation surrounding the follow-up, FX will likely take its time getting the rollout right rather than rushing the historic drama’s return.

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