The Emmys have crowned a new overlord.
“Shogun” ruled TV’s top honors, racking up a record 18 Emmy Awards for its first season — the most ever for a show in a single year — including wins on Sunday for best drama and for best actor and actress in a drama (Hiroyuki Sanada and Anna Sawai). This makes “Shogun,” created for FX by Rachel Kondo and Justin Marks, the most acclaimed TV show of 2024. But amid all the streaming platforms and shows out there, you can be forgiven if it flew under your radar.
“Shogun” is streaming on Hulu. Wondering what all the award-winning fuss is about? Here is a brief guide to this historical epic of samurai warriors and star-crossed lovers. Soon you’ll be ready to stage an all-out assault on your next binge-watch.
Where have I heard of ‘Shogun’ before?
The FX series is an adaptation of the 1975 novel of the same title by James Clavell. Based on a true story and set in feudal Japan at the beginning of the 17th century, this best-selling work of historical fiction has been adapted into live-action formats twice before: first as a widely watched 1980 NBC television mini-series, then as a short-lived 1990 Broadway musical. Residents of the New York tristate area may remember this commercial for the musical; as for the book, nearly everyone has likely seen it on a family member’s bookshelf.
What is ‘Shogun’ about?
The first season of “Shogun” — more are in the works — centers on three characters whose relationships will determine the fate of Japan. The first is John Blackthorne (Cosmo Jarvis), a shipwrecked English Protestant and ship’s pilot, or “anjin” in Japanese. He reveals the existence of a global schism in Christianity to the island’s rulers, who have been deliberately kept in the dark by their avaricious Portuguese Catholic trading partners.
In order to survive and to alter the balance of power in Europe, Blackthorne must make his case to Lord Yoshii Toranaga (Hiroyuki Sanada), the man in command of the region. A member of a five-man council that has governed Japan in the name of its child ruler, Toranaga is at odds with its most powerful member, Lord Ishido (Takehiro Hira, who was a nominee for best supporting actor in a drama). The anjin and the weapons aboard his ship may provide Toranaga with the edge he needs to survive his power struggle.
But the real standout is Lady Toda Mariko (Anna Sawai). A noblewoman, she bears the stain of dishonor brought on her family by her father, who assassinated his tyrannical lord. As her family’s sole survivor, she serves Toranaga as a translator and has become a devoted Catholic. Her unexpected connection with Blackthorne and her resolve to defend the honor of her family name make her a central figure in the story.
There is also Lord Kashigi Yabushige (Tadanobu Asano). Alternately a terrifying sadist and bumbling comic relief, he is in charge of the fief where Blackthorne’s ship crashes, and he spends the series shifting loyalties between Toranaga, Ishido and Blackthorne.
Is it in Japanese or English?
Because few of the characters other than Blackthorne and Lady Mariko speak English — technically Portuguese; the show uses English as a stand-in — most of the dialogue is in Japanese. “Shogun” is the second foreign-language show to be nominated for best drama, preceded only by “Squid Game.” But there are subtitles throughout, in a rather classy font at that. If you can put up with High Valyrian in “House of the Dragon” or Quenya Elvish in “The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power,” let alone Korean in “Squid Game,” you’ll be fine here.
What will it remind me of?
“Shogun” is very much a product of the post-“Game of Thrones” television landscape: It is a high-budget medieval-esque action-adventure period piece with a high melodrama quotient. While many shows indebted to “Thrones” are fantastical — “The Wheel of Time,” “The Rings of Power,” “House of the Dragon” — “Shogun” is straight historical fiction. Its visual grandeur, however, makes it look like an epic fantasy minus the dragons.
There are other clear influences, including the samurai films of Akira Kurosawa — as Frederick E.O. Toye acknowledged in his acceptance speech for best drama directing on Sunday night. This applies not only to the show’s setting and swordplay but also to the psychological drama, scheming and tragedy.
The show’s emphasis on the roiling interior lives of its women characters, who are hemmed in by cultural and religious constraints, echoes the work of Ingmar Bergman. Lady Mariko’s desperate life, in particular, feels like “Cries and Whispers” with samurai swords.
‘Shogun’ won so many awards. Is it really that good?
It is. The show expands the emotional, psychological and cultural scope of the novel by making the fish-out-of-water Englishman, Blackthorne, just one of several main characters instead of the leading man, and the Emmy results suggest this was an effective approach.
The show explores the inner motivations of Lord Toranaga, whose schemes require almost superhuman poise and patience to pull off. Sanada’s nuanced performance renders the warlord’s steely reserve either inspiring or infuriating, sometimes both at once.
Yabushige, a Loki-like trickster unable to see past his own immediate interests, drives the plot with his increasingly frantic attempts to play Toranaga, Ishido and Blackthorne against one another.
As Lady Mariko, Sawai draws out the disgraced noblewoman and warrior’s shame, defiance and pride. Mariko is also at the center of the season’s most gripping action sequences, involving enemy samurai and ninja assassins (if you’re into that kind of thing), and she is one half of the show’s central romance, a forbidden affair.
Because of the restraints placed on Mariko by feudal Japanese society and Catholic beliefs, she is stripped of almost all the ways a traditional character would be able to express herself. But Sawai is able to convey circumspection, caginess, suicidal despair or unexpected desire with just a look in her eyes or a hitch in her voice. Her Emmy-winning performance, alone, is worth giving “Shogun” a look.
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