‘Shogun’ Makes History With Record 18 Emmy Wins

Shogun on FX got its fifth Emmy win for the year 2024 on Sunday night. It goes to the evening that the samurai series was crowned as the biggest winner of the night having scooped 14 trophies at the Creative Arts Emmys competition held a week earlier. But the show went deeper into installing itself as the ruling show inside the Peacock Theater at the Prime Time Emmys where it bagged four more awards and this included the best drama series, best actress in a drama series (Anna Sawai), best actor in a drama series (Hiroyuki Sanada) and best drama directing (Frederick E. O. Toye). 
 
Shogun‘s victory is significant on several levels. The show swept the awards and brought huge success for FX and Disney for a costly series that have taken almost 10 years in production, and was initially a questionable gamble. Moreover, Shogun is a remarkable moment for Asian voices and non-English speaking TV series. Shogun is the first English-language series nominated in this category; however, in its first season, the first-majority non-English-language series won the award (though Netflix’s sensation Squid Game was nominated in 2022 and lost to HBO’s Succession); Sanada and Sawai are the first-ever Japanese actors to receive Emmys. 
 
Sanada said he felt the pressure of the moment and the significance of history when he went to accept the Emmy. Sanada is one of the few Japanese actors who made it big in Hollywood after becoming a prominent child actor in Tokyo 58 years ago and training under the legendary southern Chiba. He also feels that it was also time for him to become the best actor since he would be missing out if he did not, adding that the win also reminded him of “all my peers and teachers who have taught me since I was a child”. 
 
“As far as the next generation,” Sanada added, “I hope they see a lot of meaning in our nominations and wins and just understand that we created a period Japanese series that really connected with the world. ” 
 
The Japanese cinema was accredited in Hollywood earlier beginning from 1951 with Akira Kurosawa’s Rashomon that won the best foreign language film award at the 24th academy Awards. Miyoshi Umeki however captured the best supporting actresses Oscar in 1957 in the film ‘Sayonara ‘ featuring Marlon Brando. But, appreciation of the Japan talent in the small screen has been delayed significantly. Before the shows’ premieres, the only Asian to have been so recognised is Japanese actor Masi Oka, who was nominated for Outstanding Supporting Actor for Heroes in 2007. 
 
In the backstage during Emmys Sawai mentioned that when she cried while receiving her best actress in a drama series award it was her twelfth time crying. 
 
“I’ve just been a mess,” said the latter. “It is probably both happiness and stress, when wanting the best for everyone… [laughs] I am going to wake up tomorrow, and realize it was all a dream. ” 
 
Shogun victory was not as smooth throughout the Emmys history he showcased Sunday night albeit with some fairly struggles. Billy Crudup won the best supporting actor in a drama for The Morning Show over the Japanese Tadanobu Asano, who impressed a Shogun’s fan with his role of the clever samurai Kashigi Yabushige. Similarly, the writers room of the FX series – who managed to translate James Clavell’s 1975 best-selling novel of 1,312 pages into 10 hours of TV in 10 one-hour episodes – also failed to clinch the drama writing category for Apple TV+’s Slow Horses. 
 
Shogun might be the most watched series of FX to date (as per the number of hours spent streaming worldwide), but this is the second TV adaptation of Clavell’s encyclopedic book. A highly philosophical epic about honour, power, and responsibilities set in feudal Japan, the novel has been filmed before with Paramount Television Version being made in 1980. The first Shogun was filmed on location in Japan at a time when producing television series had never been done before to a level that was as big as this series at the time it first aired with NBC network. The series got the 1981 Emmy nods and received the nick of the evening by capturing the best title sequence award and outstanding limited series as well as costume design. 
 
As did the first season of FX’s Shogun, Paramount’s adaptation ended where the story of Clavell’s beloved book does. Co-creators, Justin Marks and Rachel Kondo left fans happy in May, when they shared the news that Disney approved the production of two more seasons of the series. Shogun is produced by Sanada and also acted by Sanada as the character Lord Toranaga, recently Sanada has started giving hints about what might be in the upcoming parts of story. As the after-party shuts down after Sunday night Emmys, the Shogun creative team must have their work on their cut as they attempt to continue Lord Toranaga Emmys triumph through the creation of two additional seasons in the saga.