#FIRSTLOOK: “SHŌGUN” SEASON TWO ADDS NEW CAST MEMBERS

Today, Disney+ announced the global hit drama series FX’s “Shōgun” has added five new cast members for season two of the Emmy® Award-winning show. Production is currently underway in Vancouver, set more than a decade after the events of the first season, continuing the historically-inspired saga of two men from different worlds whose fates are inextricably entwined. The second season will stream exclusively on Hulu on Disney+ in Canada, with all episodes of season one available to stream now.

Newly added to the cast are Risei Kukihara (“Gabriel”), Ryô Satô (“Rin”), Seishiro Nishida (“Jōshin”), Mantaro Koichi (“Saitō”) and Takashi Yamaguchi (“Kanō”). Download new cast headshots here.

They join previously announced Emmy® Award winner Hiroyuki Sanada, Cosmo Jarvis, Fumi Nikaidô, Ren Meguro, Asami Mizukawa, Shinnosuke Abe, Hiroto Kanai, Masataka Kubota, Sho Kaneta, Yûko Miyamoto, Yuka Kouri, Tommy Bastow, Jun Kunimura, Yoriko Dôguchi, Eita Okuno and Takaaki Enoki.

Season two casting has been handled by Laura Schiff and Kei Kawamura, whose work on the first season won the Emmy® Award for Outstanding Casting in a Drama Series.

Risei Kukihara as “Gabriel”

Risei Kukihara is an up-and-coming Japanese actor who joins the cast of “Shōgun” in his first major role.

Kukihara is represented by 42 and CAA.

Ryô Satô as “Rin”

Ryô Satô graduated from the theatre department of Tokyo’s Nihon University College of Art. In addition to performing in television, film and theatre, she also founded R Plays Company in 2023 where she runs an acting school and produces theatrical works. She made her debut in the stage production “Hino-ura Hime Monogatari,” directed by Yukio Ninagawa and had a role in the film “Silence,” directed by Martin Scorsese. In addition to her role as “Rin” in the new season of “Shōgun,” she is set to produce the play “Love and Information” by British playwright Caryl Churchill this spring.

Seishiro Nishida as “Jōshin”

Seishiro Nishida was born in Kagoshima City, Japan, and graduated from the theatre department of Nihon University College of Art in Tokyo. Since appearing in the NHK Taiga drama “Tobu ga Gotoku” (1990), he has appeared in productions such as “Atsuhime and Ryōma-den,” earning praise for his natural yet compelling performances. As a producer, his film “Ōtsunahiki no Koi / Love and the Grand Tug-of-War” (2021) earned a Best Producer Award at the 16th annual Japan Film Festival Los Angeles.

Mantaro Koichi as “Saitō”

Born in Osaka, Japan, Mantaro Koichi is a former member of the prominent Japanese theatre company M.O.P.

In 2005, he joined the cast of the medical TV drama “Emergency Room 24 Hours” marking a turning point in his career into film and television. His acting brings a level of realism and depth to every production.

Takashi Yamaguchi as “Kanō”

Takashi Yamaguchi is a Japanese actor with over thirty years of experience in film and theatre, now based in Hollywood, California. He began his career in Kyoto, Japan, and has appeared in more than fifty stage and screen productions.

Yamaguchi first gained international exposure in Edward Zwick’s “The Last Samurai” (2003), filming on location in New Zealand as one of the core samurai fighters. He later appeared in Clint Eastwood’s Academy Award–nominated “Letters from Iwo Jima” (2006), portraying Kashiwara in a key supporting role. In 2009, he starred in the award-winning short film “The 8th Samurai,” an Academy Award qualifier that won nine festival awards, including the Grand Prize at LA Shorts Fest.

In 2015, Yamaguchi was cast opposite Julianne Nicholson in Maggie Greenwald’s “Sophie and the Rising Sun” after an international casting search. He went on to appear in “Criminal Minds: Beyond Borders” (2016) alongside Gary Sinise and Alana de la Garza, and in 2019 starred as Yoshio Harada in Gabriel Robertson’s feature “Enemy Within,” based on the Niʻihau incident following the attack on Pearl Harbor.

More recently, Yamaguchi portrayed Ryoichi in Apple TV+’s “Pachinko” (2022), appearing in the 1920s storyline, and starred as Sam in FOX’s “Accused” (2023), leading the episode opposite Ian Anthony Dale and Julia Chan.

In addition to his film and television work, Yamaguchi has worked in modeling and voice acting, and has collaborated with acclaimed industry professionals including Clint Eastwood, Ken Watanabe, Tom Cruise, Gary Sinise, Julianne Nicholson, Margo Martindale, and many others.

About FX’s “Shōgun”

In the first season of “Shōgun,” Lord Yoshii Toranaga (Sanada) fought for his survival as his enemies in the Council of Regents united against him. When a mysterious European ship was found marooned in a nearby village, its English pilot John Blackthorne (Jarvis) shared vital strategic secrets with Toranaga that tipped the scales of power in his favour to win a century-defining civil war.

“Shōgun,” an original adaptation of James Clavell’s bestselling novel, is created for television by Rachel Kondo & Justin Marks and produced by FX Productions. Kondo and Marks are Executive Producers alongside Michaela Clavell, Edward L. McDonnell, Michael De Luca and Hiroyuki Sanada. The series is produced by FX Productions.

The first season of “Shōgun” won eighteen Emmy® Awards, setting the record for the most Emmy® Awards by a series in a single season. It was FX’s first series to win Outstanding Drama Series. Hiroyuki Sanada became the first Japanese actor to win the Emmy® for Lead Actor in a Drama Series, and Anna Sawai made history as the first actress of Asian descent to win Lead Actress in the same category. A global phenomenon, the show won numerous other awards, including the Golden Globe® Award for Best Television Series – Drama, AFI TV Program of the Year, and top honours from SAG, WGA, DGA, PGA, TCA, the Independent Spirit Awards, among many others.

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