Shōgun star Hiroyuki Sanada’s journey from child actor in Japan to Emmy-nominated actor and producer was a long and winding road. Now he’s embracing the moment.
“It’s a great journey for me,” Sanada, who spent 40 years as an actor in Japan before making the transition to Hollywood, where he’s worked for two decades, told Yahoo Entertainment. “This is big.”
The actor, 63, scored his first leading role as master strategist Lord Yoshii Toranaga in the FX series Shōgun. The show, which has nabbed a whopping 25 Emmy nominations, also earned Sanada his first producer title. And finally, he garnered his first Emmy nomination, for Lead Actor in a Drama Series.
“It’s like all my journey went into Shōgun, and then Shōgun brought me a nomination,” he added.
While the critically acclaimed show collected the most Emmy nominations of any series this season — and even responded to overwhelming support by adding a second and third season — Shōgun was not without its risks when it was in development over the course of nearly eight years.
Unlike the 1980 TV miniseries that came before, which was also based on the James Clavell novel of the same name, this Shōgun would focus squarely on Japanese culture, and on Toranaga instead of English ship pilot John Blackthorne (Cosmo Jarvis). The series would also anchor most of the dialogue — 70%, in fact — in Japanese, with subtitles.
“Until we released the first two episodes, we didn’t know,” Sanada said, referring to the overwhelmingly positive audience response. It was “kind of a gamble.”
That gamble has since paid off, as Shōgun became FX’s most-watched show in the first nine weeks of its debut. The Bullet Train actor is now looking ahead to Season 2 and beyond. He credits authenticity for the series’ success, something he was able to bolster as a producer, working with executive producers and writers Justin Marks and Rachel Kondo, the latter of whom is Japanese American.
Not only did Sanada request Japanese actors to play the Japanese roles, but he also wanted to use Japanese crew members who had samurai drama experience.
“Everyone listened to me,” Sanada said. “I [didn’t] have to hesitate to say something or correct something. [It was] much, much easier than before.”
As Sanada and the rest of the cast, crew and creators move toward Season 2, a premiere date for which hasn’t been announced, they face yet another quandary.
Since Season 1 used all of Clavell’s novel to inform the series, they essentially have to begin again, but without a road map from the late author.
“But we have history, real history,” Sanada explained. “We have to choose [what to include to create] the best episodes — what happened, what the human drama is there.”
For Sanada, whose childhood hero was Tokugawa Ieyasu — aka the real shōgun on whom Lord Toranaga is based — he’s committed to exploring Japanese culture beyond the confines of the novel.
“I hope writers are going to enjoy the freedom to create [in an] original way,” he added while noting that they will “continue the same world” but take it to the next level.
For that next level, the Japanese culture and language will still play a dominant role and could, according to Sanada, even inform other series moving forward.
“Even [with a] different culture [and] with subtitles, people [will] watch if the show is good,” he said. “I believe that Shōgun [is] going to be a big stepping stone to the future for the next generation.”
One question arising from Season 1, however, is still unresolved. Will Sanada and the other creatives on the show find a way to bring back fan favorite Lady Mariko, a character that earned actress Anna Sawai an Emmy nomination but who dies at the end of the season?
“[The] only [place] is flashback, right?” he said. “It was a sad ending for her, but that’s why it’s beautiful.”
“I have no idea,” he added, “for now.”
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