FX reaches back over 400 years for its next ambitious series, adapting the hit novel ‘Shogun’

By MARK KENNEDY
AP Entertainment Writer

NEW YORK (AP) — Almost 50 years after the novel “Shogun” became a massive hit, the James Clavell fictional saga makes its way to FX. Set in Japan in 1600, it’s rooted in the real history of the period, a dangerous time when several warlords jockeyed for ultimate power as European powers warily circled the island nation. The arrival of a shipwrecked Englishman disrupts the balance and yet also offers intriguing possibilities. The new series adjusts the story. A cast member says that if the book was “blue eyes watching Japan,” the FX series puts on “Japanese lenses.” Clavell’s daughter Michaela is a producer on the series.