How FX’s ‘Shōgun’ Tells James Clavell’s Story in a Way the Original Couldn’t (VIDEO)

More than four decades after it first captivated American viewers, a global audience is now poised to experience the sweeping glory of Shōgun. Based on James Clavell’s best-selling 1975 novel about feudal Japan, the 1980 NBC miniseries starring Richard Chamberlain was a phenomenon: The lavish yet sanitized and heavily Americanized adaptation averaged a 26.3 average rating over six nights and became the second highest in television history (after ABC‘s Roots).

Katie Yu/FX

Now, with FX‘s gorgeous, immersive, and brutal 10-part take, the story of John Blackthorne (Cosmo Jarvis) — the shipwrecked English sailor who becomes an indispensable aid to Lord Toranaga ( Hiroyuki Sanada), falls for his translator Mariko (Monarch: Legacy of Monsters‘ Anna Sawai), and rises to the rank of samurai — is being told the way it was meant to be.

“You come into the story knowing what three characters you’re telling the story about,” says executive producer Justin Marks of the new approach. “It’s a story of agency, it’s a story of entrapment and it’s a story of people trying to carve out some control over the path of their destiny.”

The team behind the project and the actors recently sat down with us to discuss the long road to bringing Clavell’s original vision to life, as well as why it is the right time to retell this tale and why viewers may be challenged to put their phones down and pay close attention.

“It’s extremely important to point out that this is a new version if you can even call it a version. It’s ground-breakingly stunning and very, very true to the book,” proclaims Michaela Clavell, the late author’s daughter and co-EP with Marks, Eriko Miyagawa, and Rachel Kondo. “[It is] very very true to the layers and complexity of the book, which I think we’re able to do more in current-day TV than perhaps we’ve ever been able to do in history.”

Shōgun, Series Premiere, Tuesday, February 27, 10/9c, FX