FX has unveiled the full cast for its updated take on James Clavell’s Shōgun.
The limited series, which the cabler ordered back in 2018, will star Hiroyuki Sanada (Army of the Dead, Lost), Anna Sawai (F9, Apple’s upcoming Pachinko) and Cosmo Jarvis (Raised by Wolves). The ensemble will also feature Tadanobu Asano, Fumi Nikaido, Tokuma Nishioka, Takehiro Hira, Ako, Shinnosuke Abe, Yasunari Takeshima, Hiroto Kanai, Toshi Toda, Hiro Kanagawa, Néstor Carbonell, Yuki Kura, Tommy Bastow, Moeka Hoshi, Yoriko Doguchi and Yuka Kouri.
Production on the show has begun in Vancouver. FX hasn’t set a premiere date.
Shōgun was previously adapted for a 1980 miniseries starring Richard Chamberlain, which told the story mostly through the eyes of his character, an English sailor named John Blackthorne. In discussing the series order in 2018, FX Networks chief John Landgraf said the new version would explore “a whole lot of point of view that was omitted from the original series because it was thought at that time that American audiences wouldn’t want to see the story from the Japanese point of view. And now, I think you have to tell the story from the Japanese as well as Western point of view.”
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Sanada will play Yoshii Toranaga, a powerful daimyo (lord) from a feared lineage but someone who is isolated and outnumbered by his enemies in Osaka Castle as the series begins. However, he’s a brilliant strategist and master of the long game.
Jarvis will play Blackthorne, an English pilot major whose mission is to find a path to the Pacific islands and disrupt Spanish and Portuguese interests in Japan. His ship washes ashore in Toranaga’s territory, and the daimyo becomes both his captor and spiritual mentor.
Sawai plays Lady Mariko, the revered daughter of an infamous samurai traitor, whom Toranaga enlists to avenge her father’s death.
Asano plays Kashigi Yabushige; Nikaido plays Ochiba No Kata; Nishioka plays Toda Hiromatsu; Hira plays Ishido Kazunari; Ako plays Daiyoin “Lady Iyo”; Abe plays Toda Hiroshige “Buntaro”; Takeshima plays Muraji; Kanai plays Koshigi Omi; Toda plays Sugiyama; Kanagawa plays Igarashi; Carbonell plays Rodrigues; Kura plays Yoshii Nagakado; Bastow plays Father Martin Alvito; Hoshi plays Usami Fuji; Doguchi plays Kiri no Kata; and Kouri plays Kitu.
Shōgun is from FX Productions. Justin Marks (Counterpart) executive produces with Michaela Clavell (the author’s daughter), Michael De Luca and Ed McDonnell. Marks and co-EP Rachel Kondo co-wrote the first two episodes. Shannon Goss, Andrew Macdonald and Allon Reich are also co-exec producers; Jonathan van Tulleken (Hulu’s Reprisal, Amazon’s Upload) will direct and co-exec produce the first two episodes.
Sanada is repped by CAA, Lighthouse Entertainment and Sheppard; Sawai by United Agents, WME, Zero Gravity and Felker Toczek; Jarvis by UTA, The Artists Partnership in the U.K. and Morris Yorn; Asano by Slush and ICM Partners; Nikaido by Atsuko Koibuchi and Sony Music Artists; Nishioka by Takabumi Uno and enchante, Inc.; Hira by ICM Partners; Ako by Wolf Talent Group; Abe by Rena Takiguchi and Stardust Promotion, Inc.; Takeshima by Hiroko Kitano, Polarstar Co., Ltd.; Toda by The Levin Agency and Sheer Talent Management LLC; Kanagawa by Carrier Talent Management (Vancouver) and Luber Roklin Entertainment; Carbonell by APA, Thruline and Felker Toczek; Bastow by United Agents, manager Christina Gualazzi and Goodman Genow; and van Tulleken by WME, Grandview and Independent.
