Article From Deadline
Anna Sawai (F9: The Final Saga, Giri/Haji) is set to star alongside Hiroyuki Sanada and Cosmo Jarvis, rounding out the three leads in Shōgun, FX’s limited series period drama based on the best-selling novel by James Clavell. Additionally, Tadanobu Asano, Fumi Nikaido, Tokuma Nishioka, Takehiro Hira, Ako, Shinnosuke Abe, Yasunari Takeshima, Hiroto Kanai, Toshi Toda, Hiro Kanagawa, Nestor Carbonell, Yuki Kura, Tommy Bastow, Moeka Hoshi, Yoriko Doguchi and Yuka Kouri round out the ensemble cast in the project, which tells the story from both a Western and Japanese perspective.
Director Jonathan van Tulleken (Reprisal) also is set to direct the first two episodes with production now underway in Vancouver.
Written by Justin Marks and Rachel Kondo, Shōgun is set in feudal Japan. It charts the collision of two ambitious men from different worlds and a mysterious female samurai: John Blackthorne (Jarvis), a risk-taking English sailor who ends up shipwrecked in Japan, a land whose unfamiliar culture will ultimately redefine him; Lord Toranaga (Sanada), a shrewd, powerful daimyo, at odds with his own dangerous, political rivals; and Lady Mariko (Sawai), a woman with invaluable skills but dishonorable family ties who must prove her value and allegiance.
Sawai’s Lady Mariko is the revered daughter of an infamous samurai traitor, whom Toranaga enlists to avenge her father’s death.
In the highly rated 1980 Shōgun miniseries, the parts of Blackthorne, Toranaga and Mariko were played by Richard Chamberlain, Toshiro Mifune and Yoko Shimada, respectively.
Shōgun is executive produced by Marks, Michaela Clavell, Michael de Luca and Ed McDonnell. Counterpart creator Marks co-wrote the first two episodes with Co-Executive Producer Kondo, his wife, who is of Japanese descent. Shannon Goss, Andrew Macdonald and Allon Reich are Co-Executive Producers and van Tulleken will serve as Co-Executive Producer on the first two episodes. Sanada serves as a Producer. The 10-episode limited series is produced by FX Productions.
Sawai is a rising star who was most recently seen in F9: The Fast Saga alongside Vin Diesel and Charlize Theron. Next, Sawai stars in Apple TV+’s highly anticipated show Pachinko, which chronicles four generations of a Korean immigrant family. Sawai is repped by United Agents, WME, Zero Gravity, and Felker, Toczek, Suddleson, Abramson.
