FX Working with James Clavell Estate for More 'Shogun,' Will "Likely Yield" Seasons 2 & 3

It took FX a decade to get a remake of Shōgun off the ground, with the network president John Landgraf referring to the series as the white whale he'd been chasing almost since he first started at the company. They say that good things come to those who wait, and the long wait turned out to be worth it. The response to Shōgun was well nigh rapturous, with critics all but agreeing that it was the best show of the 2023-2024 television season, and the ratings were through the roof, with the show becoming the network's most-watch show ever based on global streaming numbers.

When a show is that successful, the first question is, how do we make more of it? Shōgun was planned as a close-ended limited series, and the James Clavell estate initially only agreed to the single novel. However, when there's money, there's a way, and FX, working with its streaming partner Hulu and the Estate of James Clavell, is working to extend Shōgun, "moving forward to develop the saga" with episodes that will "most likely yield" two additional seasons of the drama series.

Unfortunately, there's nothing to go on regarding what the producers might be planning. Clavell had six books in his "Asian Saga," of which Shōgun was the first in the internal chronology, though the third was published. However, the book that follows in the chronology is Tai-Pan, which is set in mid-1800s Hong Kong, so obviously not Part 2 of the Shōgun story. There is a second book set in Japan, Gai-Jin (third in the chronology, the last published), but it's also set in the 19th century, and the late 19th century at that.