'Shogun' Makes History With Record — 18 Emmy Wins

On Sunday night, FX's Shogun extended its reign over the Emmys for 2024. Going into the evening, the hit samurai series already owned the record for the most victories by any show in a single year, having won 14 awards at the Creative Arts Emmys a week prior. However, the show cemented its dominance inside the Peacock Theater at the Primetime Emmys, winning four more awards, including best drama series, best actress in a drama series for Anna Sawai, best actor in a drama series for Hiroyuki Sanada, and best drama directing for Frederick E.O. Toye.

Hiroyuki Sanada and Anna Sawai.

Katie Yu/FX

Shogun's victory is significant on multiple fronts. The historic awards haul signals a significant victory for FX and parent company Disney for a costly series that took nearly ten years to develop and originally appeared to be a risky venture. It's also a significant milestone for Asian representation and non-English-language television.

Shogun is the first majority non-English-language series to win in the outstanding drama series category (Netflix's Korean sensation Squid Game was nominated in 2022 but lost to HBO's Succession), and Sanada and Sawai are the first Japanese performers to win an Emmy. 

Speaking backstage at the Emmys, Sanada stated that when he stepped onstage to accept his award, he "felt the weight of the moment and what it all means historically." Sanada, one of Japan's few top actors to make a significant move to Hollywood, began his career as a child actor in Tokyo about 60 years ago, learning from local screen legend Sonny Chiba. He stated his best actor award reminded him of "all my peers and teachers who have taught me since I was a child."

"As far as the future generation," Sanada continued, "I hope they see a lot of importance in our nominations and wins and just understand that we made a period Japanese series that truly connected with the world."

Japanese cinema has been honored in Hollywood since 1951, when Akira Kurosawa's Rashomon received the Best Foreign Language Film Oscar at the 24th Academy Awards. Miyoshi Umeki later won an Oscar for Best Supporting Actress in 1957 for Sayonara, which starred Marlon Brando. However, recognition for Japanese talent on the small screen came much later. Previously, only Japanese actor Masi Oka, who was nominated for outstanding supporting actor for Heroes in 2007, won a Drama Series nomination from the Television Academy.

Anna Sawai accepting her best actress in a drama series Emmy.

Kevin Winter/Getty Images

Backstage at the Emmys, Sawai revealed that when she burst into tears when accepting her best actress in a drama series award, it was probably her "12th time crying today."

"I've just been a mess," she admitted. "I believe it is just conflicting emotions and nervousness, wanting everyone to win. … "I'll wake up tomorrow and think it was all a dream."

Shogun's journey through Emmy history. However, Sunday night was not without its share of hard-fought losses. Billy Crudup won best supporting actor in a drama for The Morning Show over cult Japanese actor Tadanobu Asano, whose portrayal of the cunning samurai Kashigi Yabushige was a Shogun fan favorite. The FX series' writers room, which reduced James Clavell's 1975 best-selling novel of 1,312 pages into ten hourlong TV episodes, was also beaten by Apple TV+'s Slow Horses in the drama writing category.

Shogun may be FX's most watched series (based on global hours streamed), but it is only the second TV adaptation of Clavell's enormous novel. The novel, a hugely significant epic about duty, loyalty, and power struggles in feudal Japan, was originally adapted by Paramount Television in 1980. The first Shogun, which broadcast on NBC, became a pop cultural sensation after being shot on location in Japan with the highest budget ever spent on a TV series at the time. The series was nominated for 12 Emmys in 1981, winning for outstanding limited series, costume design, and best title sequence.

Paramount's adaptation finished where Clavell's acclaimed book did, as does the first season of FX's Shogun. Justin Marks and Rachel Kondo, the show's co-creators, surprised fans in May when they revealed that Disney had greenlit two extra seasons. Sanada, who also produces Shogun and stars as Lord Toranaga, has begun to tease what the story's next chapters may hold. After Sunday night's Emmy celebrations, the Shogun creative team will undoubtedly have their work cut out for them as they attempt to extend Lord Toranaga's Emmy reign by adding two entirely new seasons to the series.