Shōgun

In 1980, NBC aired Shōgun, a miniseries that adapted James Clavell’s novel about an English navigator, John Blackthorne, who becomes embroiled in a political battle in early 17th century feudal Japan. That adaptation was a landmark cultural event, winning a Peabody the following year. But the decades since have clarified the show’s vulnerability towards the white-savior narrative, and it is in this context that FX’s brilliant reimagination of the source material enters the world. Showrunners Rachel Kondo and Justin Marks deftly invert the original by rendering Blackthorne, played by Cosmo Jarvis, as a secondary player, and reframing the show’s entire narrative around its Japanese characters, in particular Hiroyuki Sanada’s aspiring shogunate Lord Toranaga and Anna Sawai’s tortured Lady Mariko. What transpires is the unlikeliest of phenomena: a complex and thrilling epic primarily carried out in the Japanese language that nevertheless became a sensation on American television. Shōgun’s achievements also extend far beyond the screen–a sterling example of global cross-collaboration, with FX’s team closely integrating craftspeople from Japan who brought their full selves into the work. For its undeniable power as a television epic, vibrant reframing of a classic text, and service as a groundbreaking cross-cultural production, we recognize Shōgun with a Peabody Award.