FX’s Shōgun (2024) First Trailer

Hey gang! Man, I wish I could make a video about the new Shōgun trailer, but a blog entry will have to suffice. But before I begin blathering, here’s the trailer.

On one hand, I can see some familiar scenes from the source novel and original mini-series (which I reviewed here if you want to read that). However, I can see that the FX folks are making some changes. I’m pretty sure it is in the novel (it for sure is in the OG mini-series), but the Portuguese describe the Japanese as having six faces and three hearts. In this trailer, it sounds as if Toranaga is talking about having three hearts. And that was something I don’t remember in the novels.

Further, there’s the talk of death. In the source material, the Japanese portrayed death and life as equals. In the trailer, I couldn’t help but think of Blackadder saying, “Death stalks our land like a

Another thing I notice is showing female samurai fighting. I still need to finish the final part of the novel, but I think this is another change to the story. There were no female assassins that I’m aware of. No woman fighting off a hoard of samurai men (and no doubt defeating them). Well, at least they did have the female samurai using the proper weapon in the trailer. But it is a red flag to me to insert girl bosses if they weren’t in the source material.

Cosmo Jarvis as Blackthorn looks to round in the face. The Dutch ship he piloted was the sole survivor of a fleet. And they didn’t have much in terms of supplies. Also, Cosmo looks too modern. I don’t look at him and think, “That’s someone from the 1600s.” That was a complaint I had about Richard Chamberlain playing the role in the 1980 adaptation.

Teaser Trailer

FX just dropped another trailer, this time a teaser.

A bit of different scene stuff in this one, including Blackthorn standing up to Omi-san (if they are following the novel). I do like the gritter feel of Japan in this 2024 version of Shōgun. And the lighting for interior shots is much better now. While the sets of the 1980 series are awesome, most of the time, the lighting betrays that they are in a studio.

Outside of the girl boss stuff, the rest of the show looks good. I’m cautiously optimistic. Not sure if I’ll get to watch this in a timely fashion or not. Depends on finances (if my old home has sold).