“Shogun” on Star+: why watch a historical drama in 1600s Japan? Its creators respond

Surely more than one remembers her. The miniseries “Shogun”, released in 1980, told the story of the feudal lord Toranaga in Japan in the 1600s and his unexpected alliance with the English sailor John Blackthorne, in the months before the battle of Sekihara. The characters were played by the great Japanese actor Toshiro Mifune and the American Richard Chamberlain, in a production that was well received at the time.

Almost 45 years later, another “Shogun” hits the screen. It is not, however, a ‘remake’ of its predecessor, but rather a new version of the original novel published by James Clavell in 1975. And in that sense it is presented as an adaptation much more ambitious in terms of productionbut also more careful and reliable with the historical aspects it addresses.

This time, The protagonists are the Japanese Hiroyuki Sanada and the British Cosmo Jarvis. And the creative minds behind it are Justin Marks and Rachel Kondo, a married couple who were clear from the beginning that their television version of “Shogun” had to be different from the eighties.

“We thought there was a whole new story to be told,” says Marks in conversation with Trade–. Because this type of historical stories not only deals with the period they are narrating, but also use the past as a window to the present. And we were not interested in the cultural point of view of 1980, but in how we see another culture, the Japanese, from today, from today.

Kondo – of Japanese descent – ​​also had a particular view of the project: “When I initially read the book, I told myself that it was perfect for me. that it was my moment to discuss my heritage, my culture, and learn a lot as a Japanese-American.”

For that reason, this “Shogun” of 2024 had among its team historical, cultural, language, costume advisors, and more specialists which give his portrait of 17th century Japan a plausible verisimilitude.

New approach

While James Clavell’s book is historical fiction, it is clearly based on real events. “Toranaga is closely inspired by Tokunaga Ieyasu, the man who established a period of 270 years of peace in Japan [el período Edo] after hundreds of years of civil war. And John Blackthorne is based on William Adams, who was Tokunaga’s advisor at that time,” explains Justin Marks.

“Michaela Clavell, daughter of John Clavell, told us that she remembered her father preparing this book. And that He did not pick up his pen or write a single word until two years after spending all his time reading and researching.. It is incredible that, without having access to the information that exists on the Internet today, Clavell could get so close to reality,” adds Rachel Kondo.

Regarding the choice of protagonists, Marks and Kondo affirm that They never had a Toranaga in mind other than Hiroyuki Sanada –actor of “The Last Samurai”, “John Wick 4″ and other films–. “In the case of Cosmo and Anna Sawai [quien interpreta a Lady Mariko], yes there was a process in which we looked for something that we had written in the script. We wanted to be surprised, challenged, and what we got from them was very unexpected: they felt alive, unpredictable, surprising,” says Marks.

“Surprising, but in a way inevitable too,” Kondo adds. Because now I feel that it had to be them. It was a special search process, even instinctive, but very fun.”