It was buzzed as “the next Game of Thrones” for its war setting, political betrayals, and intrigue. After 10 episodes, the finale aired on April 23, 2024, and there’s no renewal in sight. So fans are wondering why there’s no season 2 of Shōgun. Given the breadth of the source material, though, there’s still hope for spinoffs.
Based on James Clavell’s novel, Shōgun is set in Japan in the year 1600 at the dawn of a century-defining civil war. Lord Yoshii Toranaga 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. Enter John Blackthorne, an English pilot who serves on the Dutch warship Erasmus and becomes the first Englishman to reach Japan.
Initially a prisoner, Blackthorne—most commonly referred to as “Anjin”, which loosely means pilot in Japanese—begins to aid Toranaga in more ways than one and becomes enthralled by Japanese culture in doing so. The show’s creators have revealed why there’s no season 2 of Shōgun but that doesn’t mean we don’t have hope for future spinoffs.
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Why there’s no Shōgun season 2
Image Credit: FX/hulu There’s no Shōgun season 2 because, as far as the source material is concerned, the story has been told through the adaptation of Clavell’s 1,000-page novel into 10 episodes. “We took the story to the end of the book and put a period at the end of that sentence. We love how the book ends; it was one of the reasons why we both knew we wanted to do it — and we ended in exactly that place,” co-showrunner Justin Marks told The Hollywood Reporter.
In a separate interview with THR.com, Marks continued to explain: “I keep saying it’s like we want to let everyone be on the same page when it comes to the book. 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.”
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But there’s still hope…
Image Credit: FX Just because the story of James Clavell’s Shōgun has been told in its entirety doesn’t mean there couldn’t be spinoffs. Clavell, an Australian-British author, penned six novels in what’s known as the Asian Saga. When asked about whether the showrunners would consider adapting the other novels, Marks explained to THR.com:
“I can only speak for myself reading Tai-Pan right now, just apropos of nothing, honestly, and what a great book. I’ve been telling Rachel about it as I’ve been reading it and saying, ‘Well! He did it again.’ But it’s completely different. It’s about Hong Kong in the early days, a totally different world, so it’s not just playing the hits. He’s conjuring new vivid characters that stand 75,000 feet tall all at once,” he said. “And I think when you look at Shōgun, that’s part of what Clavell did. We were given these characters who were really so colorful and accessible, which is a hard magic to conjure as a novelist and as a writer.”
After Shōgun, these are James Clavell’s books in chronological order and where the showrunners could go next:
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Tai-Pan (1966)
This, the second in the Asian Saga, is a novel set in 1841 and centers around the founding of Hong Kong by the British and the rivalry between two trading companies, the Noble House and the Brock Line.
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Gai-Jin (1993)
Taking place in 1862 about 20 years after the events of Tai Pan, this novel follows the lives of various characters, including European and Japanese traders, as tensions escalate between the two cultures in Yokohama, Japan, during the Tokugawa shogunate’s final years.
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King Rat (1962)
The first book Clavell wrote in the series, King Rat is set in a Japanese prisoner-of-war camp in Singapore during World War II. It explores the relationships and survival strategies of the prisoners as they navigate the harsh conditions of captivity.
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Noble House (1981)
Set in Hong Kong in 1963, this novel explores the power struggles and intricate relationships within the British trading firm Struan’s, also known as the Noble House, as it faces threats from rival companies and political unrest.
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Whirlwind (1986)
James Clavell’s fifth book in the Asian Saga is set in Iran during the 1979 Iranian Revolution and focuses on the experiences of several characters, including an American businessman and an Iranian prince, amidst the chaos and upheaval.