In 1980, NBC took a big swing and adapted James Clavell’s 1975 novel Shogun for television as an epic five-night miniseries event. It was constantly in rerun sduring the ’80s, and Shogun was widely regarded as one of the best TV miniseries ever made. The current incarnation of Shogun was announced in 2018, and it’s taken five years to prepare the story for a new generation of fans. But now, FX and Hulu have announced that the Shogun remake will finally premiere in early 2024 as they dropped the first trailer for the series.
If you don’t know the story going in, then the trailer may be hard to follow. And unlike the previous Shogun miniseries, the focus won’t strictly be on the main character, John Blackthorne (Cosmo Jarvis). In the early 17th century, Blackthorne winds up shipwrecked in Japan, with little hope of ever returning to his native England. To survive, Blackthorne finds himself forced to adapt to his new home and culture, and to dedicate himself to a life in service of Lord Yoshi Toranaga (Hiroyuki Sanada).
As Blackthorne learns to become a warrior in his own right, his closest friend is a beautiful samurai, Toda Mariko (Anna Swai), who acts as his interpreter. Blackthorne can’t help falling for Mariko, even after he learns that she is already married and they can never be together as lovers.
This incarnation of the story is elevating Lord Toranga and Mariko to co-leads of the story with Blackthorne, and it will follow their perspective. as well as his own.
The 10-episode series features a nearly all Japanese cast, including Tadanobu Asano as Kashigi Yabum, Fumi Nikaido as Ochiba No Kata (Lady Ochiba), Tokuma Nishioka as Toda Hiromatsu, Takehiro Hira as Ishido Kazunari, Ako as Daiyoin Lady Iyo, Shinnosuke Abe as Toda Buntaro, Yasunari Takeshima as Mura, Hiroto Kanai as Kashigi Omi, Toshi Toda as Sugiyama, Hiro Kanagawa as Igurashi, Junichi Tajiri as Uejiro, Néstor Carbonell as Vasco Rodrigues, Yuki Kura as Yoshi Nagakado, and Tommy Bastow as Father Martin Alvito.
Shogun will premiere on FX on Hulu in February 2024.
