Shōgun co-creators Justin Marks and Rachel Kondo explain season 2’s development process. Based on James Clavell’s 1975 novel, FX’s Shōgun premiered earlier this year, becoming both a critical and viewership sensation. The show, which was billed as a miniseries, concluded its 10-episode run in late April, seemingly wrapping up the story of Lord Toranaga (Hiroyuki Sanada) and John Blackthorne (Cosmo Jarvis). The success of the series led to the announcement that Shōgun season 2 is in development, in addition to a season 3.

In a recent interview with Variety, Marks and Kondo touch on the development of Shōgun season 2 and how they’re approaching the new season. According to the showrunners, ideas for a continuation of the series came to them during production on season 1, including a more definitive end point for their main characters. They stress, however, that season 2 isn’t yet a sure thing and will depend on whether they can get the story to where it needs to be. Check out Marks and Kondo’s comments below:

Marks: From the writers’ room of this show, we were always doing our fan fiction of what stories may be. And without getting specific, because a lot of those are just larks and jokes and fun things that we would always want to do: Like some fantastic alt-history where Blackthorne brings Yabushige back to London, and the two of them kind of go into this place. I mean, it would be wild.

But like any factory after it struggles to just pump out one car, the next car gets a little easier and a little easier after that, and we began to sort of see the mechanism that the team had collectively put in place in terms of learning how to do this. The 900-page instruction manual that writer/producer, Caillin Puente put together for this show — all of these things spoke to a certain repeatability.

And when Gina Balian visited us in Vancouver one time when Michaela Clavell — James Clavell’s daughter, and an executive producer on our show — was up there, Rachel and I went to dinner with the two of them and presented the first kernels of, “We’re not sure we should do this, but if we did, here’s how we thought it might start.” And we gave them that scene, and we felt them go like this — and it felt really good!

Kondo: May I also add, at that dinner, there was also a little bit of tension, in the sense that someone might disagree a little bit about this character or that character. And that actually just felt intriguing, because if it was already sparking conversation and it was already kind of something we wanted to get into, then maybe there was something there.

Marks: There were a lot of questions that we felt were still unanswered in the story. Not the least of which is that the title character doesn’t become the title character. And yeah, that’s really when you have history on your side, what you don’t have on your side is this wonderful book moving forward. There are no roads where we’re going.

And I would be lying if I said we have the answers right now. We have been speaking with one of our historical advisors who we cherish, and talking just about, “Tell us a little more about William Adams here and Tokugawa Ieyasu there, and tell us about some new characters and some new things that are going on. And OK, yeah. Interesting.”

And really just building that together into a shape that started to feel like, “Oh, I think we have to do this. I think we really love this idea.” And I want to make that point especially clear, that what our document revealed to ourselves and to FX as collaborators is that we know how all of this ends in the final moment. And once we saw that moment, we said, “Oh, now we have to get to that. Now we have to do that.” And that felt much more honest in the way we were searching.

It’s more than one season.

And we know how it gets to that place, and that place historically is based on a story that Frederik Cryns told us that came from history, that was like, “Oh, wow. Yeah, no, this is the natural end of this.” We think we have something that is exciting and surprising. We’re going to go into the room to build that and if we come out the other side and it’s no good, the assurance from FX and everyone is, we’re not going to make it.

Marks & Kondo’s Latest Shōgun Season 2 Update Is Good News

Season 2 Of The FX Show Faces One Big Challenge

The announcement that the Shōgun season 1 finale may not be the end of the line after all came as something of a surprise, especially to those familiar with Clavell’s source material. The 10 episodes of season 1, after all, adapt the entirety of the novel, seemingly bringing the story to a close. This means that prospective seasons 2 and 3 won’t be drawing from any source material, with Marks and Kondo instead extrapolating the journeys of the characters from where Clavell’s story left off.

This understandably raises questions about quality and whether Shōgun season 1’s glowing reviews are repeatable in season 2 and beyond without the same source material. Marks and Kondo’s latest update, however, seemingly confirms that they’re aware of this, and they initially approached season 2 with a healthy degree of hesitancy. Even now, further down the line, their claim that season 2 won’t happen unless they manage to put a compelling story together in the writers’ room is reassuring.

Because Shōgun season 1 was such a big hit, the announcement that seasons 2 and 3 are in development could certainly be interpreted cynically as a business decision for FX rather than one driven by creative ambition. While this element certainly remains, Kondo and Marks’ latest comment proves just how invested they are in their characters and the telling of a strong story above all else. It remains to be seen whether Shōgun season 2 will recapture the magic of season 1, but the show’s future does appear to be in good hands.