As we enter the new post-Succession era, a fearsome potential ruler has emerged to seize power at the 2024 Emmys.
FX Productions’ lavish Japanese period series Shōgun — a show, incidentally, all about the complicated succession process after the death of an esteemed leader — dominated the drama category announcements Wednesday morning with 25 nominations.
Besides getting a nomination for best drama, Shōgun also earned a best dramatic actor nomination for Hiroyuki Sanada as Yoshii Toranaga, while Anna Sawai took home a nomination for best dramatic actress for her role as Toda Mariko.
In the best supporting dramatic actor competition, there were nominations for Tadanobu Asano, who plays Kashigi Yabushige, and also Takehiro Hira for his role as Ishido Kazunari. There was also a best guest actor in a drama nomination for Nestor Carbonelle for playing the role of Rodrigues.
Shōgun also earned a slew of nominations in technical categories, including for production design, original dramatic score, stunt performance, sound editing, casting, two in the cinematography category for Sam McCurdy and Christopher Ross, costume design, and a best series directing nomination for Frederick E.O. Toye.
Although the winners won’t be unveiled until September, the nods are already a big achievement for FX and parent company Disney for a pricey series that took nearly 10 years to bring to fruition and once looked like a very uncertain bet. It’s also a major moment for Asian representation and non-English-language television. Following Netflix’s Korean sensation Squid Game in 2022, Shōgun is just the second majority non-English-language series to be nominated in the outstanding drama series category.
Shōgun and its cast were originally expected to compete in the Emmys‘ limited series categories. But after co-creators Justin Marks and Rachel Kondo revealed in May — to the delight of fans everywhere — that two more seasons are in the works, Shōgun jumped into the drama race. Drama is typically considered the Emmys’ most prestigious arena and Shōgun would likely be a strong contender in any year. But the show also had the good fortune of emerging amid a power vacuum. The category is a far more open field than it’s been in recent years since Emmys stalwarts like Succession and Better Call Saul have wrapped up their runs, while other favorites were delayed due to Hollywood’s writers and actors strikes (Stranger Things, Squid Game, Euphoria, The Last of Us, The White Lotus, Severance, et al).
Shōgun has scored nominations in virtually every conceivable drama category — and in many of those races, the show’s stars are considered instant frontrunners. As expected, veteran Japanese actor Sanada, aka Lord Toranaga, landed his first best actor in a drama series nom, as did his British co-star Cosmo Jarvis, who plays the shipwrecked adventurer John Blackthorne. Sawai, critically acclaimed for her moving turn as the troubled but courageous Lady Mariko, secured her place in the best actress race, as did Asano — a fan favorite as the dishonorable but deeply likable samurai Kashigi Yabushige — in the best supporting actor category. Hira, who plays the would-be throne-stealer Ishido Kazunari, was a somewhat more surprising selection alongside Asano in the supporting category, as was the scene-stealing veteran Japanese actor Tokuma Nishioka. Shōgun‘s breakout supporting actresses Moeka Hoshi and Fumi Nikaido also both landed noms, along with Carbonelle and Yuko Miyamoto for their guest actor performances. And the Shōgun crew’s meticulous recreation of Feudal Japan landed FX and Disney a boatload of craft nominations.
The nominations amounted to a sweeping set of firsts, as all of the honored Japanese cast members are first-time nominees on an individual basis, and most are also the very first Japanese nominees in their respective categories in Emmys history. Previously, only Japanese actor Masi Oka, nominated for outstanding supporting actor for Heroes in 2007, had received a drama series nod from the Television Academy.
The Shōgun saga, however, is not at all a newcomer to Emmys glory. Shōgun is FX’s most-watched series ever (based on global hours streamed), but it’s the second TV adaptation of James Clavell’s sprawling 1975 novel of the same name — a deeply influential, best-selling epic about duty, honor and the struggle for power in Feudal Japan. Produced by Paramount Television and shot on location in Japan with the biggest budget ever spent on a TV series at the time, the first Shōgun became a pop culture sensation when it aired on NBC in 1980. The series earned 12 Emmy Awards nominations at the 1981 awards show, winning for outstanding limited series, costume design and best title sequence. But Paramount’s adaptation ended where the story of Clavell’s beloved book concludes — just as the first season of FX’s Shōgun does. So, the series’ writers will be venturing into unknown territory as they attempt to craft two new seasons of Shogun to extend the show’s Emmy’s reign.
