FX has released the first trailer for its upcoming adaptation of James Clavell’s classic 1975 novel Shogun, which chronicles the clash between Japanese and Western societies in the 17th century.
The trailer is suitably epic in scope, showcasing sweeping vistas of nature and cities juxtaposed against images of war musters and high seas adventuring. We also see some of the political posturing and domestic drama that the series will encompass, with murder, combat, and what promises to be a rousing prison speech scene all teased. It makes for extremely compelling viewing, so check it out for yourself:
The series will the second adaptation of James Clavell’s novel. The first came in 1980 amidst the first wave of miniseries productions and was hugely successful — as was the novel itself. The story is sometimes credited as a driving force behind the popularization of Japanese culture in the West.
Shogun follows John Blackthorne, a fictionalized version of William Adams, the first Western samurai (who gamers may recognize from Nioh), from his shipwrecked arrival in Japan, as he ascends from prisoner to trusted advisor. It also chronicles a key shift in Japanese history, through the ending of the Sengoku period and the rise of the Tokugawa Shogunate.
The novel was the first in Clavell’s The Asian Saga, which tells stories of the uneasy relations between Eastern and Western cultures through history. Shogun is chronologically the earliest in the series.
As the trailer notes, Shogun will drop on Hulu and FX in February 2024. It is set to consist of ten episodes. Cosmo Jarvis (Raised by Wolves) will star as Blackthorne, while Hiroyuki Sanada (John Wick: Chapter 4, Westworld) will play Tokugawa Ieyasu stand-in Yoshii Toranaga and Anna Sawai (Pachinko) will play Lady Mariko.
