Game Of Thrones Meets Ghost Of Tsushima In Hulu's 10-Part Action Drama
Hulu’s deal with FX has made it one of the go-to streaming services for premium TV shows. FX has been at the forefront of the Golden Age of Television since it gave us one of the first post-Tony Soprano antiheroes in The Shield. FX has given us more gritty antiheroes in action-packed dramas like Sons of Anarchy, but they’ve also been on the cutting edge of subversive comedy with shows like Archer and It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia.
Being the home of FX’s original programming means that Hulu always has one of the best shows on television at any given time. FX’s hit rate is almost on par with HBO; they just wrapped up The Bear, they’re making a second season of The Lowdown, and — perhaps most tantalizingly — their Shogun reboot is coming back for season 2. When the first season hit, FX greenlit seasons 2 and 3, so this show will be sticking around for a while.
Based on James Clavell’s novel of the same name, Shogun is a three-hander following the feud between a ruthless Japanese warlord and a Protestant English sailor who’s stranded in Japan, and the translator acting as a mediator between the two. Clavell’s book was previously adapted for television in 1980, but FX’s 2024 remake had the full resources of a Game of Thrones-era premium drama. It’s like Game of Thrones had a baby with Akira Kurosawa’s Ran. It’s a visually stunning series, anchored by three incredible lead performances (particularly Anna Sawai as Toda Mariko).
Shogun recaptures the winning formula that made Game of Thrones so compelling — flitting between shady political intrigue and dazzling battle sequences — and plants it in the real historical setting of the 17th-century Sengoku period. Shogun’s first season consists of 10 episodes, and binging them feels like watching a really long movie.
Shogun Is One Of The Most Cinematic Shows On Television
There was a time, not so long ago, when cinematic visuals were confined to cinemas. That was the edge that movies had over TV for a while: you might be able to watch Full House from the comfort of your own home, but you won’t get the blockbuster spectacle of Jurassic Park unless you go out to a theater. But that all changed when HBO made a little World War II miniseries called Band of Brothers. In Band of Brothers, executive producers Steven Spielberg and Tom Hanks brought the big-budget battles of Saving Private Ryan to the small screen.
Before Band of Brothers came along, TV shows were basically just filmed dramas. There were no frills in the filmmaking. No one was trying to get a unique shot; they were working so fast, and for such a tiny, flickery screen, that they just focused on getting usable coverage of the scenes as written, and then moved on. But since Band of Brothers changed the game, we’ve seen TV shows get a lot more visually inventive, with much more impressive production values.
Game of Thrones and The Last of Us have given us jaw-dropping battle sequences, The White Lotus has given us stunning landscapes from the world’s most picturesque tourist hotspots, and Severance has transported us to a strange, dystopian, almost Lynchian corporate underbelly. With its brutal battles, striking vistas, and immersive historical milieu, Shogun is one of the most cinematic shows on television. It’s one of the only shows I don’t mind taking more than a year to make a new season, because you can’t rush absolute cinema.
Shogun season 2 finally started shooting in February of this year, so it’s getting closer and closer to becoming a reality. If you haven’t seen season 1 yet, catch up before the series returns.