FX already said yes to more Shogun, which immediately lit up the fandom with one question: can Anna Sawai come back as Toda Mariko after the way that story ended? The Emmy winner weighed in, and her answer leaves the door cracked just enough to keep you guessing.
Where Mariko left things
Mariko’s arc reached its heartbreakingly precise endpoint in episode nine, 'Crimson Sky.' She stepped into a doorway and held her ground while attackers lit the fuse outside, sacrificing herself to finally complete her family’s mission. Clean, devastating, and very much the kind of ending that usually means goodbye.
What Sawai is saying about Season 2
Speaking recently about watching her former castmates head back to work without her, Sawai made it clear she still feels woven into the show that changed her career. Her performance as Mariko didn’t just land; it won her first Emmy.
'I just received a text from director Hiromi Kamata. She sent me a photo, and it was a poster of Mariko by the window. And she was like, "We miss you." I do miss the whole team a lot because it was such a meaningful show to me.'
As for popping up in Season 2 through flashbacks or some other narrative sleight of hand, she didn’t shut it down and sounded genuinely into the idea.
'That would be fun. It would be a surprise. We don’t know what’s going to happen, but I’m also very excited to see season two.'
And she’s perfectly content with how Mariko’s story wrapped.
'My character’s arc finished in the best way, and now people miss me. So, in that sense, it couldn’t be better.'
Why there is a Season 2 at all
Shogun was first built as a one-and-done. Then the show became a phenomenon, and FX moved forward with more. That’s the whole ballgame.
Where to find Anna Sawai next
- Back in the MonsterVerse with Monarch: Legacy of Monsters Season 2
- Playing Yoko Ono in Sam Mendes’s four-part Beatles project