FX has ordered Shogun, which it calls the network's largest international scale production to date. There are ten episodes, based on the novel by James Clavell.
John Landgraf, CEO of FX Networks and FX Productions, announced the project at TCA press tour in Beverly Hills.
Andrew Macdonald and Allon Reich of DNA TV, Michael De Luca and Michaela Clavell are executive producers along with Tim Van Patten, who will direct multiple episodes of the series. Eugene Kelly and Ronan Bennett will write the series.
Shogun will be shot in the UK and Japan and produced by FX Productions.
“The story of Shogun has captivated audiences since James Clavell first released his epic novel more than 40 years ago,” said Landgraf. “The themes of an outsider encountering a new culture are as relevant today as then. We are honored to bring the series to today’s viewers through our partnership with executive producers Andrew Macdonald, Allon Reich, Michael De Luca, Clavell’s daughter Michaela, and Eugene Kelly. We are equally thrilled that Ronan Bennett and Rachel Bennette are writing the new adaption, and that Tim Van Patten will bring his vision and expertise to directing this saga of adventure, power and loyalty that the world has come to know as Shōgun.”
Shogun, set in feudal Japan, charts the collision of two ambitious men from different worlds and a mysterious female samurai: John Blackthorne, a risk-taking English sailor who ends up shipwrecked in Japan, a land whose unfamiliar culture will ultimately redefine him; Lord Toranaga, a shrewd, powerful daimyo, at odds with his own dangerous, political rivals; and Lady Mariko, a woman with invaluable skills but dishonorable family ties, who must prove her value and allegiance, in FX’s words.
The novel was published in 1975. The original Shogun miniseries event premiered in 1980 over five nights on NBC. It starred Richard Chamberlain as Major John Blackthorne, Toshiro Mifune as Lord Yoshi Toranaga and Yoko Shimada as Lady Toda Mariko.
