Shōgun series creators Justin Marks and Rachel Kondo, and executive producer Michaela Clavell answer our burning questions about the Shōgun ending. Actors Hiroyuki Sanada ("Yoshii Toranaga") and Cosmo Jarvis ("John Blackthorne") also shared about their character's motivations in the final scenes.
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If you rewatch episode 1 with the knowledge of episode 10, Ishido almost looks like a "good guy". His accusations towards Toranaga were correct.
“He defecated through a sunroof! And I saved him. What was I thinking? He will never change. But not our Tory, couldn’t be precious Tory. Scheming them blind! And he got to be a shogun? What a sick joke! I should have stopped him when I had a chance. You have to stop him. You have to…” - Ishido McGill
Yep. We like him because he's with Blackthorne. Toranaga sacrificed his own son for more time, sacrificed his top general to keep the ruse of surrender real, sacrificed Mariko to weaken Ishido's allies, and destroys Blackthorne's ship to bring the Christian lords to his side. He's absolutely ruthless and cunning; Blackthorne will never get to leave, while Toranaga becomes Shogun
@@Rich0591 true dat !👍great character! one of many
@@Rich0591 In the book (and in real life), it also revealed that he’s also gonna double cross those Christian lords and end up expelling the Portuguese out of Japan anyway so there another layer of betrayal from Toranaga here.
Ishido was serving the realm but fumbled hard. It was a mismatch between a great statesman (Ishido) and the last most powerful Daimyo in the Sengoku Jidai (Toronaga). Being Shogun is being a military dictator, and Toronaga has the skills for it.
i need cosmo jarvis in more movies/tv. he played blackthornne so amazing, i have a new found respect for him.
He played a crazy ww1 vet in peaky blinders that’s where I fell in love with his acting
@@TheShortYautjaBarney he was a Sniper attached to Tommy’s Unit
Didnt need all them pills did ya Barney..
@@okey7118 “I’m alright Barney as is Arthur; John is Gone and So is Danny Wizz-Bang and Jeremiah is a man of the Colth now”
Hope Hiroyuki Sanada makes more Japanese period based movies or series like Shogun. Brilliant!
I want them to do Seven Samurai as a series
Yes! Put him in charge and make a samurai-verse!
Toranaga’s experience at 6years old as a hostage, taught him to play the long game.
I’m really hoping Tadanobu Asano gets an Emmy for his performance. He was my favorite.
This was not the medieval period. "Medieval" is a specific period in European history, it's not a synonym for historical. The England where Blackthorne came from would be during the Tudor period (1485 -1603) or the Stuart period (1603 to 1714)
What amazed me about Blackthorn’s attempt at seppuku was the cat like speed and true strength shown by Toranaga to stop Blackthorn from being successful.
So, right after watching the final episode I decided to casually rewatch Eps 1. Then I noticed when Yabushige's nephew asked him whether he plan to tell Toranaga about the ship (in Eps 1), Yabushige replied with "Why tell a dead man about the future"''....the exact same line Toranaga replied to Yabushige right before the seppuku. Man, that was just masterful writing!!
Both the actors of Toranaga and Yabushige act in 47 Ronin too!
Also, Scorpion and Raiden in Mortal Kombat 2021
Toranaga is a patriot to Japan and to ending their civil wars by any means necessary. His loyalty is only to that idea and will not stop until his vision has been achieved. He is neither a "good guy" or a "bad guy" as those titles means nothing, only the goal has any meaning to him.
I read Shogun twice soon after its publication. My understanding of Toranaga is his belief in his karma, an aspect not covered well in this series. In fact, on the very last page he does not say I wanted to be Shogun, but that it was his karma.
He has a messiah complex. He believes that he’s a chosen one to become the shogun (which to be fair, he has the Minowara bloodline) and it’s his duty to fulfill his destiny.
Having finished the series and not having read the book, the feeling of "belief in karma" sort of saturated the scene every time Toranaga was there.
@@RLeVeriteArt True. But karma was hardly spoken of in the series. That’s fine, and it’s only an observation, not a complaint. The series is brilliantly saturated with subtle symbolism.
Can't make an omelet without breaking some eggs!! Aloha from Hawaii!!!
You know? Poetry was so important in Japan. It has been recognized as a part of the culture of samurai and aristocrats for more than 1,300 years. Therefor there is still the Emperor poetry session every year in Japan, and even Emperor or someone of their family still reads a poetry in public every year!
Thanks for the insight Kat! What a great show and ending 👏
Most who expected a huge battle were disappointed. I enjoyed the last episode greatly because those moments of touching intimacy between Anjin and Fuji in the boat or the last discussion between Yabushige and Toranaga were moments we rarely see between two people even in real life. Even the moment where Buntaro showed up to help drag the boat out of the bay showed that he forgave JB and appreciated his efforts to save Mariko's life in Osaka Castle. Those made the final chapter the most exceptional, IMHO. If you expected a huge battle scene, the was plenty of action when Toranaga was escaping Osaka Castle and many other movies that have samurai fight scenes in them.
They lead up to the battle of Sekigahara and then pretended it never happened cuz of the heirs army or whatever bullshit lol what a let down. This show could have been one of the greatest...now, once again, another great show doesn't know how to properly come to end.
@katxmoon Thank you, Kat, for trying to pry an answer from Hiroyuki Sanada! Plus, we too want a Season 2. So keep persuading the producers to expand the Shōgun TV universe. Because the real-life historical counterparts of Toranaga and Blackthorne continued with their fascinating stories long after the fictional story in the novel ended (Spoiler Alert: the historical Blackthorne takes command of new ships and starts a Japanese family, while the historical Toranaga confronts religious conflicts and eventually a new military confrontation with Osaka Castle). Please tell Rachel, Justin, and Hiroyuki: the end of the book is just the beginning.
Always leave them wanting more. That is a great way to look at the production, but it adapted the novel to the end already. I suspect if they tried to write new material for a second season, we would ultimately be dissatisfied with the result.
William Goldman, author of Butch Cassidy script, the Princess Bride, tons of oscar winning films, wrote in his fun book "What lie did I tell? (more tales from the movie business)... yes, he said the original film, whatever, is made with heart... it's you baby, your art, your life. Sequels are simply prostitutes: they are only there for the money. It's why he never wrote a sequel for Butch & Sundance tho he had piles of material. Most of these "franchise" films are simply whores there for the money
they could create another series set in the book universe as the author has more books that could be interesting
@@zakzerak7191 Perhaps, but the other books in the series isn’t as well celebrated. I don’t think they are even connected aside from taking place in different regions of Asia
Yeah just adapt a new ancient war story.
Hiroyuki basically said read the books and look at the history of who Toronaga is based on 😅😅😅
Winning without a battle, that’s the whole point.
You mean pretending the massive battle of Sekigahara didn't happen....? Lol what a fail for them to lead up to the biggest Samurai battle in Japanese history and then act like it never happened lol FAIL
@@chrishoffman4986 The title of this show is clearly “Shogun” not “The battle of Sekigahara”. This show is also clearly classified as a “historical drama” and not “action”. So in your own words, this show did not fail, YOU did. Read the damn title and look at the genre before you “lol FAIL” again.
@@matthewcheung5136 before I embarrass you publicly I'll give you an opportunity to learn about Tokugawa Ieyasu... The show is about becoming Shogun...the entire show was leading up to the battle of Sekigahara which was a huge moment in Japanese history and a pivotal battle for the Eastern Coalition forces when they defeated the Western army. The show was great but the ending was the biggest let down in fiction based on historical events.
@@matthewcheung5136 imagine watching Lord of the rings and instead of seeing the battle for Minas Terith, Aragorn just describes it to you. Lol also why wouldn't you want to see the battle of Sekigahara....they teased it the entire show only to not show you one minute of the largest Samurai fight in Japanese history. You are defending mediocre entertainment....why? What do you get? Go back to your basement and type angry messages to people about how wrong they are. Lol I know so much of this history it's painful arguing with people like you 🤣🤡
Even if the original intent of the writers was that Blackthorne, by attempting to die the Japanese way, was finally fully embracing the culture, I believe they might have conveyed a different message. No commentatore has, to my knowledge so far, pointed out how Blackthorne is displaying a quintessential christian value: being willing to sacrifice his life for the sake of the many (the village in this case). And just like his god, Jesus, he chose the manner which would be understood by his interlocutors: crucifixion for Jesus (the roman way to execute), seppuku for Blackthorne (the Japanese way to allow nobility to execute themselves). Blackthorne is not embracing Japanese culture, Blackthorne has finally found his christian values. Not the 'party line' religiosity of the protestant vs catholics rhetoric, but the true spirit of christianity: sacrifice.
I loved this series but I'm one of many that was greatly disappointed by the lack of sword fights. I really hope they expand this series to fill that void. It would be incredible if they did a spin off series covering the battle of sekigahara.
1:51 He should have said: Why tell a dead man the future? hahahaha
I wish you would have asked about the smiles exchanged between Yabu and Toranaga before Toranaga chopped Yabu’s head off🤔
I was wondering about that too... rewatch episode 1 where Yabu says there's no reason to tell a dead man about the English ship. Then this exchange. I think that's the realization and acknowledgement that Toranaga always knew what Yabu was doing from day 1 and used him.
@@tomtricity100%. Omi was spying for Toronaga the whole time.
The word Shogun(将軍) is not SHO-GAN. The sound should be "show" and "goon(shorter)".
no, the life expectancy in the high middle ages England was not 27 XD.
Ppl keep forgetting or just don't know that this was based on a book which is also based on historical events There wasn't a war in the book, at least not in the way ppl wanna see it. The book and the show was always about the how Toronaga got to outsmart everyone and bring 300 year shogunate of peace in Japan. There was never going to be a battle in the TV show.
The show shits on the actual history of this era and to not show the battle of Sekigahara is a complete insult to the Japanese families and individual Samurai that sacrificed themselves on that day for him to become Shogun.
This thing took 5 years. And that’s with a book as source material. With a 2nd season, someone would have to write it, make it as good…. It may be another 5 years if it happens at all.
So Toranaga was the conniving villian after all 😅
The book ended but the story did not. It needs to continue. Imagine showing Thanos getting his 6 stones and then ending MCU...
Wait til you learn about the actual battle of Sekigahara....lol this show was good but definitely a let down
Anna Sawai just sitting there looking flawless... i almost got lost in her
Showgun is like a lot of four play with no climax. They keep saying there will be war, but there was no war. Just Tarrnaga sitting on a rock narrating, how it would unfold. We might as well have read the book. Maybe the studio didn't want to spend the money. Badly done.
What a take
Right? To lead up to the battle of Sekigahara the entire show and then not show it and to pretend it didn't even take place because of the laws and blah blah blah. What a load of bullshit. It's an insult to the history of the families and samurai that died that day to get him to the throne. Shogun is a great show but it shits on the actual history of an amazing era. They should be ashamed for twisting history and dishonoring all the men that died in the battle of Sekigahara.
The original shogun was way better.
No it wasn't..
Said no one ever
No, from under educated western view maybe. But it was so fake, only for people with lower intelligence.
I'm old enough to have seen both at their debut. And no, it was not. So, as the children of today say, smoke your copium more.
The plot may be closer to the book, but other than that, no. This one is better.
Ten was a bust, a bomb, an epic disappointment.
A shamefur dispray.
@@PROVOCATEURSK people loved the series so much they need ten to be great when it was just garbage. It had to be great but it stunk. Sort of an emporer's new clothes new clothes phenomenon.