Shogun officially came to an end this week, and through its short run, the FX series has already been heralded as one of the best television series since HBO’s Game of Thrones. According to its showrunner, however, a second season might not be in the cards.
Speaking to The Hollywood Reporter, co-creator and showrunner Justin Marks was asked about whether or not a second season of the series could happen. Marks hinted that they would be up for it if they could think of something, but also expressed hesitancy that they could go beyond the original novel’s ideas.
“I don’t know. I keep saying it’s like we want to let everyone be on the same page when it comes to the book,” said Marks. “And hopefully now the TV audience and the book audience are on the same page with what the story is and where it resolves. I think if we had a story, if we could find a story, we would be open to it. But I don’t think that anyone ever wants to be out over their skis without a roadmap and everything. And it’s also just about, do people want more of it?”
Marks is unclear if Shogun Season 2 could even be accomplished
Shogun is based on the 1975 novel of the same name by James Clavell and does have a more or less definitive ending, similar to the book. When it comes to a potential Season 2, Marks said he doesn’t know if it’s possible to continue past what Clavell wrote.
“But it’s also about, not even topping the book, but, how do you even equal the roadmap that Clavell laid out? And I don’t know if it’s possible,” Marks said. “I don’t know if Clavell could have done it either. That’s probably why he moved on to other books too, right? He knew what he had done. Yeah, it’s a tough one.”
Marks did express some interest in some of Clavell’s other novels, namely Tai-Pan, which is set in Hong Kong in 1842. However, he was quick to note that doing an anthology series — similar to FX’s Fargo or American Horror Story — based on Clavell’s books would be tough due to their wildly different locations and timeframes.
“But it’s tough because Fargo, you’re still telling different threads of the same place, whereas The Asian Saga goes all over the place for good reason. So it’s hard. You’re not actually building off that same language in the same way.”
