“Shōgun” had a historic 2024 Emmy night.
FX’s historical drama set in feudal Japan won the Emmy for drama series on Sunday. The win caps off a night that also saw series stars Anna Sawai and Hiroyuki Sanada awarded the prizes for lead actress and lead actor in a drama series, as well as an Emmy for director Frederick E.O. Toye. “Shōgun,” which featured mostly Japanese dialogue, is the second non-English-language series to be named the year’s top drama by the Television Academy after Netflix’s “Squid Game.”
In accepting “Shōgun’s” drama series award, showrunner and co-creator Justin Marks thanked the executives who “greenlit a very expensive, subtitled Japanese period piece whose central climax revolves around a poetry competition.”
“‘Shōgun’ is a show about translation,” said Marks, who created the series with Rachel Kondo. “Not what is lost but what is found when you do safety meetings in two languages and you learn not to walk onto tatami mats with your utility boots.”
When the show’s star and producer Sanada was handed the microphone, the Japanese actor used the occasion to express his gratitude in Japanese to everyone who has carried on the art of jidaigeki — samurai period dramas — over the years, including directors, crew members and other masters of the craft.
“The passions and dreams we have inherited from you have crossed oceans and borders,” Sanada continued in Japanese.
“Arigato gozaimasu,” added Marks in thanks after reading the translations of Sanada’s remarks.
Both Sanada’s and Sawai’s win were also historic. Sawai is the first actor of Asian descent to win her category, while Sanada is just the second Asian actor to win his. (Lee Jung-jae of “Squid Game” was the first.)
Sunday’s wins bring “Shōgun’s” overall Emmy haul to 18, the most ever awarded to a show in a single year. The series, which follows Sanada’s Lord Toranaga as he patiently outmaneuvers his political rivals in his rise to power, had led the pack when nominees were announced in July with 25 overall nominations and had already notched 14 wins at the Creative Arts Emmys earlier this month.
“I’m beyond honored to be here with amazing nominees,” said Sanada, who portrayed the quietly ambitious warlord Yoshii Toranaga, as he accepted the lead drama actor award. “Thank you to all the crew and cast of ‘Shōgun.’ I’m so proud of you. … ‘Shōgun’s’ taught me that when people work together, we can make a miracle. We can create a better future together.”
Sawai, who had burst into tears as soon as Sanada’s win was announced, joked about her crying onstage afterward.
“I was crying before my name was announced, I’m a mess today,” said Sawai, who portrayed troubled translator Toda Mariko. After thanking her mother, she paid homage to “all the women who expect nothing but continue to be an example for everyone.”
FX’s adaptation of James Clavell’s bestselling novel primarily centers on a core trio that includes Sanada’s strategic warlord Toranaga, his vassal and disgraced noblewoman Lady Mariko (Sawai) and stranded English pilot John Blackthorne (nominee Cosmo Jarvis).
Clavell’s 1975 novel was adapted into an Emmy Award-winning limited series in 1980.
In a previous interview with The Times, Sanada discussed his admiration for Tokugawa Ieyasu, the real-life shōgun on whom Toranaga is based.
“He was a hero from my childhood,” Sanada said. “He created a peaceful era for a long time after the war period. He’s still a hero in Japan, and I hope that playing him and introducing what he did will bring a very important message to the world.”
Speaking to The Times prior to the show’s launch, Sawai discussed how the role was “pretty tough” and said that Mariko’s story felt very personal.
“I don’t think I knew how deeply affected I was going to be by Mariko,” Sawai said. “She felt very real to me and the weight of [her story] was very heavy.”
Sawai joins Ali Wong, who won an Emmy for her role in “Beef” in January, as the only women of Asian descent to win lead acting Emmys.
“Shōgun’s” other Emmy wins include guest actor in a drama series (Néstor Carbonell), casting for a drama series, production design for a narrative period or fantasy program, sound editing for a comedy or drama series, cinematography for a series, sound mixing for a comedy or drama series, special visual effects in a season or movie, picture editing for a drama series, stunt performance, period or fantasy/sci-fi hairstyling, period or fantasy/sci-fi makeup, period costumes for a series, prosthetic makeup and main title design.
In May, FX and Hulu announced that “Shōgun” had been renewed for at least two more seasons. While the first season has already covered all of the events in Clavell’s novel, Marks and Kondo told The Times in a previous interview that there had been ideas that they weren’t able to include in Season 1.
“The show [is] not necessarily a reflection of the world as it is today,” Marks said. “It’s nice sometimes to go to a world like this where people have principle and they really stand for it and, in some cases … die for it.”
“You want to spend time with people who believe in something desperately and passionately and I think you can’t get any more profound believers than these characters,” Kondo said.
