FX’s long-gestating Shogun series is now targeting a February 2024 premiere on Hulu and FX. The date announcement was accompanied by the first teaser trailer for the 10-episode limited series based on James Clavell’s bestselling novel.
(Update: The series will premiere with the release of the first two episodes on Tuesday, February 27, 2024.)
Rachel Kondo and Justin Marks created the series and executive produce, with Marks also guiding the series as showrunner. Additional executive producers include Michaela Clavell, Edward L. McDonnell, and Michael De Luca.
FX offered this detailed description of the plot, cast, and characters:
Shogun is set in Japan in the year 1600, at the dawn of a century-defining civil war. Producer Hiroyuki Sanada stars as Lord Yoshii Toranaga, who is fighting for his life as his enemies on the Council of Regents unite against him. When a mysterious European ship is found marooned in a nearby fishing village, its English pilot, John Blackthorne (Cosmo Jarvis), comes bearing secrets that could help Toranaga tip the scales of power and devastate the formidable influence of Blackthorne’s own enemies — the Jesuit priests and Portuguese merchants.
Toranaga’s and Blackthorne’s fates become inextricably tied to their translator, Toda Mariko (Anna Sawai), a mysterious Christian noblewoman and the last of a disgraced line. While serving her lord amidst this fraught political landscape, Mariko must reconcile her newfound companionship with Blackthorne, her commitment to the faith that saved her and her duty to her late father.
The limited series also features:
- Tadanobu Asano as Kashigi Yabushige, a notorious backstabber and close ally of Toranaga.
- Hiroto Kanai as Kashigi Omi, the young leader of the fishing village where Blackthorne’s ship was found.
- Takehiro Hira as Ishido Kazunari, a powerful bureaucrat who is Toranaga’s chief rival.
- Moeka Hoshi as Usami Fuji, a widow who must find new purpose amidst her lord’s fight.
- Tokuma Nishioka as Toda Hiromatsu, Toranaga’s trusted general and closest friend.
- Shinnosuke Abe as Toda Hirokatsu, Mariko’s jealous husband.
- Yuki Kura as Yoshii Nagakado, the brash son of Toranaga with a strong desire to prove himself.
- Fumi Nikaido as Ochiba no Kata, the revered mother of the heir who will stop at nothing to put an end to Toranaga and his threat to her son’s power.
James Clavell’s Shogun was published in 1975 and has sold over 15 million copies. The novel was previously adapted into a miniseries starring Richard Chamberlain as John Blackthorne, Toshiro Mifune as Lord Toranaga, Yoko Shimada as Mariko, Alan Badel as Father Alvito, and John Rhys-Davies as Vasco Rodriguez. The miniseries premiered in September 1980 and went on to win three Primetime Emmy Awards – Outstanding Limited Series, Outstanding Costume Design, and Outstanding Graphic Design and Title Sequences.
