THE WEAPONS OF a samurai are many. There’s the classic katana blade. The naginata, a long-bladed pole. Akabutowari, for close-quarters slicing. Or, if a warrior finds themselves separated from their armoury, they could always use a copy of James Clavell’s 1975 novel Shōgun to bludgeon their enemy. After all, it’s a 1,152-page tome, hefty enough to stun an ox —but a daunting prospect to adapt into aTV series. It has been attempted once before, with a 1980 serial starring Richard Chamberlain and Toshiro Mifune, so popular that almost a third of Americans tuned in. And now Shōgun is being tackled again, by showrunners Rachel Kondo and Justin Marks, a wife-and-husband team. They tell Empire how their new ten-episode saga seeks to do justice to its source.
Jarvis’ Blackthorne was played by Richard Chamberlain in the hugely popular 1980 American TV series.