Epic historic drama awaits in FX’s Shōgun, an upcoming adaptation of James Clavell’s best-selling novel of the identical title.

The restricted sequence invitations us into feudal Japan within the yr 1600, the place battle throughout the Council of Regents threatens civil struggle. Elsewhere, a marooned Englishman arrives with information that might drastically influence Japan’s relationship with Portuguese retailers, creating a possible path for an English foothold within the nation. Political machinations, conflicts of religion, and large samurai battles ensue, making for a must-watch sequence.

What’s Shōgun about?

Anna Sawai in “Shōgun.”
Credit score: Kurt Iswarienko/FX

Shōgun facilities on the highly effective Lord Yoshii Toranaga (Hiroyuki Sanada, additionally a producer), who should battle for his life as Japan’s Council of Regents — notably his rival Lord Ishido Kazunari (Takehiro Hira) — turns in opposition to him. He’ll must assemble a gaggle of unlikely allies if he hopes to keep up any shred of energy, together with John Blackthorne (Cosmo Jarvis), a stranded English ship pilot, and Toda Mariko (Anna Sawai), a translator whose Christian religion might take a look at her dedication to Toranaga.

Though the characters and occasions in Shōgun are fictional, Clavell loosely primarily based his novel on real-life occasions. Toranaga shares similarities with Tokugawa Ieyasu, the warlord who based the centuries-long Tokugawa Shogunate. The character of Blackthorne is predicated on William Adams, the primary Englishman to reach in Japan.

FX’s Shōgun marks the second time Clavell’s novel has been tailored for tv, the primary being a 1980 miniseries that grew to become a cultural phenomenon. For this new model, co-creators Rachel Kondo and Justin Marks sought to collaborate additional with Japanese artists.

“I might say for sure that the toughest side, the factor that we grappled with from the very starting up till the second we delivered the final episode was, ‘How will we inform this story in a approach that brings us nearer to our Japanese companions?'” Marks mentioned on the Tv Critics Affiliation (TCA) winter press tour.

One strategy to this query concerned filming Shōgun largely in Japanese, with English subtitles — a change from the 1980 model, which left the Japanese dialogue un-subtitled. Marks mentioned how this subtitle alternative would carry viewers nearer to the present, as a substitute of making distance between non-Japanese-speaking viewers and the Japanese-speaking characters.

Hiroyuki Sanada leads Shōgun‘s star-studded forged.

Hiroyuki Sanada in “Shōgun.”
Credit score: Kurt Iswarienko/FX

Shōgun stars a legend in Hiroyuki Sanada, whose huge filmography contains roles in Japanese and Hong Kong motion movies, in addition to current flicks like John Wick 4 and Bullet Prepare. Sanada can be a producer on Shōgun, the place he strived to make sure authenticity in each side of the on-screen portrayal of 1600s Japan. At TCA, he spoke about hiring Japanese crew members, consultants, and artisans to craft costumes and props. “We had a dream East-meets-West crew,” Sanada mentioned.

Becoming a member of Sanada within the forged are Cosmo Jarvis (Persuasion) as John Blackthorne and Anna Sawai (Monarch: Legacy of Monsters) as Toda Mariko. Different stars embrace Tadanobu Asano as Kashigi Yabushige, an ally of Toranaga with a penchant for backstabbing; Hiroto Kanai as Kashigi Omi, the chief of a fishing village; Takehiro Hira because the calculating Lord Ishido Kazunari; Moeka Hoshi as Usami Fuji, a widow who has weathered incomparable tragedy; Tokuma Nishioka as Toda Hiromatsu, Toronaga’s trusted normal; Shinnosuke Abe as Mariko’s husband Buntaro; Yuki Kura as Yoshii Nagakado, Toranaga’s brash son; Yuka Kouri as famed courtesan Kiku; and Fumi Nikaido as Ochiba no Kata, mom to the inheritor of Japan and enemy of Toranaga.

Rachel Kondo and Justin Marks co-created Shōgun, and function producers with Michaela Clavell, Eriko Miyagawa, Edward L. McDonnell, and Michael De Luca.

Shōgun premieres Feb. 27 on Hulu and FX.