This epic series is a must-see, it could become "one of the best of all time"

Broadcast in streaming, this historical fiction series is unanimously appreciated by viewers and critics and is breaking audience records. This is the big surprise at the start of the year.

Since the (controversial) finale of Game of Thrones in 2019, many have been looking for the series that will be its worthy heir. And the contender for the title could actually take medieval Japan as a setting, without a dragon, but with samurai. And like GOT before, it broke audience records with 9 million views in six days on Hulu and Disney, becoming the most watched series of the moment across the world.

Adapted from James Clavell’s best-seller, Shōgun is set in the 17th century. With a civil war looming, English commander John Blackthorne could have a decisive impact on the country’s political life. Lord Yoshii Toranaga is, in fact, engaged in a fight to the death against his enemies in the Council of Regents, and intends to use Blackthorne to tip the scales in his favor. At the heart of their relationship is a translator, Toda Mariko, a Christian noblewoman, also the last of a line that has fallen from grace.

Thanks to a large budget, the creators of Shōgun were able to transcribe Japanese historical reality as closely as possible while faithfully adapting the political intrigues and cultural differences of its protagonists. On the screen, the series offers spectators a great spectacle, with very brutal sequences that Game of Thrones would not deny. In the casting, viewers may recognize Cosmo Jarvis, already seen in Netflix’s Persuasion, Hiroyuki Sanada (47 Ronin, Sunshine) and Anna Sawai (Fast and Furious 9, Pachinko) in the main trio.

In the United States, Shōgun was described as the “new Game of Thrones” by several American media, who gave a grand welcome to this ambitious historical fresco. With no less than 100% positive reviews out of 34 reviews, this drama from the American channel FX reaches a very rare consensus. Viewers who discovered the first episodes are no less enthusiastic, with one of the X users even estimating that “if the rest of the series is as good as the first two episodes, this series will become one of the best of all the temperature”.

Shōgun also won over the French press. For Allociné, it is neither more nor less “one of the most ambitious and accomplished mini-series of recent years”. Digital people are also seduced by this “sublime, bloody and stunning journey”, when Le Parisien says it is won over by this “magnificent historical fresco in feudal Japan”. In France, Shōgun arrived on Disney on February 27. Since then, a new episode has been posted online every Tuesday, until the finale on April 23.