By Veteran acting icon Hiroyuki Sanada has reportedly closed a deal to return as Lord Yoshii Toranaga for a second season of FX’s highly acclaimed period series “Shōgun” reports Deadline.
Elements are reportedly still being worked out and other deals are being finalized in an effort to continue the series in the wake of its commercial and critical success. Securing the actor has been considered crucial to those plans.
There is a deadline to all this as Emmy submissions are coming up and the outcome of these deals will determine whether the series can be considered for either limited or drama series categories.
Limited series is highly contentious this year, but drama series competition is lighter than usual. However not all the “pieces are in place” for a second installment as yet with Sanada’s deal said to be a “great start”.
The other obvious question is story. The recent ten-episode run was based on James Clavell’s iconic novel, but Clavell never wrote a direct sequel – his other works like “Tai-Pan,” “Gai-Jin,” “King Rat” and “Noble House” are all set centuries later with different characters.
The recent series was six years in the making across multiple continents and FX’s most expensive series to date. The results were widespread critical acclaim and strong ratings as the show pulled in 9 million views globally across Hulu, Disney+ and Star+ in its first six days.
It became the company’s No. 1 general entertainment series internationally and the No. 1 FX premiere on the Disney streaming platforms – Disney chief Bob Iger citing the series the other day as a great example of the kind of adult shows the company would love to produce more of.
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