Shogun Trailer Brings One Of The Best Novels Of All Time To Stunning Life
East meets West in the action-packed trailer for the upcoming FX mini-series Shogun. The recently released trailer follows a shipwrecked Brit as he’s introduced to the ways of 1600 A.D. Japan during a time of war and intrigue. Shogun promises plenty of blood in this modern adaptation of the classic novel.
Based on a 1975 novel of the same name, Shogun tells the tale of John Blackthorne, an Englishman serving on a Dutch warship, the Erasmus, headed for Japan. When the Erasmus is blown ashore on the Japanese coast, Blackthorne and the other survivors are taken captive by a group of samurai. What follows is a clashing of societies as Blackthorne is introduced to the traditions of The Land of the Rising Sun.
The upcoming drama stars Cosmo Jarvis as John Blackthorne, the stereotypical “stranger in a strangeland” as well as Hiroyuki Sanada as Lord Yoshi Toranaga and Anna Sawai as Lady Mariko. Shogun was first announced in 2018, with principal photography taking place the following year in Japan and the United Kingdom.
James Clavell’s classic novel was adapted for the small screen once before in 1980. This version of Shogun starred Richard Chamberlain, best known for the 1974 disaster epic, The Towering Inferno, and was aired on NBC over five nights. To this day, it’s the only television production to be filmed entirely on location in Japan.
While the original Shogun miniseries is still highly regarded—8.1 stars out of 10 on IMDb—this new version that FX has cooked up has the potential to be a more faithful adaptation of the original novel. For starters, the first Shogun had to deal with the network constraints of the time. Any of the more explicit love scenes or acts of violence from the novel had to be reworked and toned down for 1980 sensibilities.
On the other hand, if the new trailer is any indication, the 2024 Shogun is going to be a gnarley bloodfest, chock-full of arterial spray. This is largely due to the relaxed standards of cable VS broadcast TV. Anyone who has ever watched the FX hits Fargo or You’re The Worst can tell you that the channel gives all the F***s—quite literally.
Then you have the length. The original Shogun clocks in at just shy of 10 hours—or half the runtime of a Martin Scorsese film. The FX production, however, is scheduled for 10 episodes. With the flexibility FX has shown through the varying runtimes of several shows, such as American Horror Story, it’s not a huge leap to assume some of those 10 episodes will run over an hour in length. More runtime means more details from the novel can be fit into the narrative.
Of course, book accuracy doesn’t always equal good. Just ask the many Watchmen fans who consider Zack Snyder’s adaptation to be utter garbage despite its almost slavish adherence to the source material. To that end, hopefully, FX concentrated on making Shogun an entertaining period epic rather than just a direct 1:1 translation of the novel.
Fans will find out when Shogun premieres in February 2024 on Hulu and FX.
