10 Best Movies To Watch If You Miss Shogun (2024)

Shōgun was one of the best new series of 2024, so good that Disney and FX extended its original run as a limited series and currently has at least two more seasons in development. Released back in February 2024, Shōgun follows the improbable story of one man's cunning and tactful rise to become shōgun, the supreme military ruler in feudal Japan. The series is based on the real-life establishment of the Tokugawa shogunate, established by Tokugawa Ieyasu in the year 1600. Many Shōgun characters, such as Cosmo Jarvis's John Blackthorne, were inspired by real-life historical figures and timelines.

Shōgun was previously adapted into a limited series back in 1980. Like the 2024 critically acclaimed series, 1980's Shōgun received outstanding reviews and was widely considered one of the best series of the year in which it was released. 1980's Shōgun went on to win a total of 3 Emmys in 1981 after receiving an impressive 14 nominations, including Outstanding Costume Design for a Series, Outstanding Graphic Design and Title Sequences, and Outstanding Limited Series. More than four decades later, Shōgun leads the 2024 Emmy Awards with a remarkable 25 nominations for its first season.

With Shōgun season 2 still many months away, fans still have quite a while until they get to see how Lord Toranaga's rise to power continues to play out. While some characters will certainly not be returning due to their deaths in season 1, both Toranaga and Blackthorne will likely continue their unlikely alliance as Toranaga faces opposition from the Mother of the Heir, Ochiba-no-kata. No official timeline has been confirmed for Shōgun season 2, Toranaga actor Hiroyuki Sanada has publicly said "there will be new characters coming in, and we’re going to basically follow the real history in seasons two and three." Until that day comes, there are several movies with similar themes and settings as Shōgun to check out.

10 Seven Samurai (1954)

Directed by Akira Kurosawa

Seven Samurai is often considered one of the greatest movies ever made and a visual & narrative masterpiece. Not only should it be seen by all movie lovers, but it is a great and classic option for fans of the 2024 Shōgun series as well. Both Shōgun and Seven Samurai share a similar scale and degree of immersion that makes them both exceptional in their own right. Seven Samurai takes place in the sixteenth century in Japan, not far from the events of the Shōgun series. The film follows a group of farmers from a small village who hire veteran samurai to protect them from bandits. Seven Samurai is currently available to stream on Max.

9 Dune: Part Two (2024)

Directed by Denis Villeneuve

Dune: Part Two may be set in a completely different genre as Shōgun but both celebrated 2024 projects share themes of power struggles, betrayal, and cunning strategy. They also are both made with a sense of epic scale, making them two of the most immersive and largest fictional worlds brought to the screen in 2024. The core narrative of how Timothée Chalamet's Paul Atrides rises to the rank of Emperor in Dune: Part Two is similar to Lord Toranaga's chesslike strategy to become shōgun by the first season's end. Both Dune: Part Two and Shōgun follow the steep ascension process of their protagonists and leave audiences somewhat questioning their motives despite being the heroes in their respective stories.

8 Silence (2016)

Directed by Martin Scorsese

Silence is an excellent and underrated film by legendary filmmaker Martin Scorsese. Silence takes place during the 17th century in Japan and follows two Portuguese Jesuit priests, played by Adam Driver and Andrew Garfield, who go on a religious crusade to rescue their Catholic mentor who has gone missing. The film is seen through the eyes of the Portuguese Christian priests who are similar to the Father Martin Alvito and Father Dell'Aqua characters portrayed in Shōgun. Silence takes a more gruesome look at the extreme levels of religious persecution and sacrifice of the era and is one of the great modern examples of feudal Japan as depicted in a film. The 2016 film received a Certified Fresh Rotten Tomatoes critic score of 83%.

7 Mortal Kombat (2021)

Directed by Simon McQuoid

Before appearing onscreen together in Shōgun as Lord Toranaga and his disloyal daimyo Yabushige, Hiroyuki Sanada and Tadanobu Asano previously worked together on the 2021 film adaptation of Mortal Kombat. Both Sanada and Asano will reprise their roles as Scorpion and Lord Raiden in Mortal Kombat 2, which does not currently have an established release date but could arrive sometime in 2025. For fans of Shōgun who specifically miss the hot and cold connection between Yabushige and Toranaga, Mortal Kombat may be worth checking out for the fact that they appear onscreen together in the same film. Mortal Kombat is based on the popular fighting video game of the same name and received a Rotten Tomatoes audience score of 86%.

6 The Northman (2022)

Directed by Robert Eggers

The Northman is one of the most gruesome and visceral action movies in recent years, one area which Disney/FX's Shōgun did not dive too deeply into. The Northman shares many similar narrative themes to Shōgun as Alexander Skarsgård's protagonist goes on a full-throttle decade-spanning path for vengeance after his father, a king, is betrayed and murdered for his crown. Once Skarsgård's Amleth grows up, he comes up with a vicious and violent scheme to avenge his father's death and take back the throne that was taken from him, which is not too far from Lord Toranaga's motivations and character trajectory in Shōgun. Directed by one of the best horror directors of our time, Robert Eggers, The Northman is an epic tale on the same level of prestige as Shōgun.

5 The Last Samurai (2003)

Directed by Edward Zwick

The Last Samurai has been coming up in Google searches for "best samurai movies" since its 2003 release, with good reason. Starring Tom Cruise and Ken Watanabe, The Last Samurai isn't just a great movie about samurai culture but one of the best films to come out of the early 2000s, earning four Oscar nominations including Best Supporting Actor for Watanabe. The Last Samurai takes place in 19th century Japan as Nathan Algren, a U.S. army captain, is hired by the Japanese emperor to train his army in modern warfare techniques. Algren finds himself split between two different eras and worlds in this action-packed movie full of battle scenes. Fans of Shōgun who were waiting for Crimson Sky and the Battle of Sekigahara can get their action fix from The Last Samurai.

4 The Tragedy of Macbeth (2021)

Directed by Joel Cohen

The Tragedy of Macbeth also chronicles the strategic and tragic rise to power of one of Shakespeare's most iconic figures. Joel Coen of the iconic Coen Brothers directing duo (The Big Lebowski, No Country for Old Men, Fargo) directed 2021's The Tragedy of Macbeth, a visually stunning interpretation of Shakespeare's tragic play Macbeth. While there have been many renditions of Macbeth over the years, the directorial mastery of Joel Coen makes his The Tragedy of Macbeth one of the very best especially in the area of cinematography. With Shōgun being one of, if not the, most visually stunning series of 2024, fans who appreciated the aesthetics and compositions of the series will certainly find substance in the visual style of The Tragedy of Macbeth.

3 The Twilight Samurai (2002)

Directed by Yōji Yamada

For fans of Hiroyuki Sanada specifically, don't miss his performance in 2002's The Twilight Samurai in what is arguably his best role before appearing in Shōgun. While the tone of The Twilight Samurai is very different from Shōgun since it is considered a romantic drama, there are still enough action and suspenseful elements to make it entertaining throughout for fans of the acclaimed 2024 series.

A younger Sanada is featured in The Twilight Samurai as Seibei Iguchi, a low-ranking samurai at the end of the feudal era of Japan. It's incredibly ironic that The Twilight Samurai takes place at the end of feudal Japan with Sanada playing a low-ranking samurai, while Shōgun takes place at the start of the longest shogunate in Japan's history and Sanada plays the most powerful person of that time.

2 13 Assassins (2010)

Directed by Takashi Miike

13 Assassins is one of the highest-rated and critically acclaimed samurai movies of the 21st century. The film takes place in feudal Japan in 1844, which is still in the thick of the real-life Tokugawa shogunate. 13 Assassins features a fictional feudal lord named Naritsugu Matsudaira, who is an evil half-brother of the Japanese shogun. In order to prevent his rise to power, a group of thirteen samurai band together to set a trap and end the tyrannical reign of the feudal lord. The film is directed by renowned Japanese filmmaker Takashi Miike and is widely considered to be his masterpiece. 13 Assassins is currently streaming on Hulu.

1 Yojimbo (1961)

Directed by Akira Kurosawa

Apart from Seven Samurai, Yojimbo is arguably Akiro Kurosawa's greatest film. The film stars Toshirō Mifune, who notably starred as Lord Toranaga in the 1980s version of Shōgun. Yojimbo is a one-person army action epic that follows Mifune's crafty ronin character Sanjuro Kuwabatake who decides to take down both sides of a rival gang in a small Japanese town. Sanjuro has a similar degree of strategy and cunning antics as Toranaga, which makes Yojimbo a thought-provoking and thoroughly compelling watch. Yojimbo is also streaming on Max and is one of the best possible movies to watch while waiting for Shōgun season 2.

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TV-MA

Adventure

Drama

History

Shogun is an FX original mini-series set in 17th Century Japan. Shogun follows John Blackthorne, who becomes a samurai warrior but is unknowingly a pawn in Yoshii Toranaga's plan to become Shogun. The series starsCosmo Jarvis as John Blackthorne and Hiroyuki Sanada as Yoshii Toranaga, along with Anna Sawai, Tadanobu Asano, and Yûki Kedôin.

Cast

Cosmo Jarvis , Hiroyuki Sanada , Anna Sawai , Tadanobu Asano , Yûki Kedôin , Takehiro Hira , Tommy Bastow

Release Date

February 27, 2024

Seasons

1

Network

FX

Streaming Service(s)

Hulu

Writers

Maegan Houang , Rachel Kondo , Justin Marks , Emily Yoshida

Directors

Frederick E.O. Toye , Jonathan van Tulleken

Creator(s)

Rachel Kondo , Justin Marks