Shogun has undoubtedly been one of the great releases of this first half of the year. The fiction, based on the 1975 best-seller of the same name and written by James Clavell, premiered on Disney on February 27. Since then, the series has been releasing chapters week by week on the platform until culminating with its tenth episode on April 23.
Set in 17th century Japan, it follows the story of British shipwreck John Blackthorne (Cosmo Jarvis), whose life takes a radical turn as he goes from being an ordinary person to becoming a samurai. Under the command of Yoshii Toranaga (Hiroyuki Sanada), Blackthorne is used as a pawn in the fight of the Japanese leader, who intends to reach the top of power and be the new Shôgun.
The series has become one of the best premieres on the streaming platform, managing to captivate millions of people around the world who have praised the story, the characterization of the characters, their interpretation and the setting of the series. But even though Shogun is set in 17th century Japan, many of its scenes were filmed far from the Asian continent.
According to The Cinemaholic, the series’ production team recorded exterior shots of landscapes and emblematic places in Japan to use throughout the ten episodes. Furthermore, the aforementioned media reveals that filming was initially going to take place in the Asian country, but due to the appearance of Covid-19, most of the production had to be moved to Vancouver, Canada.
And it was there, in the country on the American continent, where almost all of the filming of the series took place. The first part of filming for Shogun took place in the township of Ucluelet, in the western part of Vancouver Island, British Columbia. A unique enclave in which they took advantage of the spectacular virgin beaches and lush tropical forests to bring 17th century Japan to life. ”We wanted to open the show with the beautiful scenery of Wya Point Beach in Ucluelet,” said producer Erin Smith.
Vancouver was also one of the locations chosen to carry out filming. In the city, known as the Hollywood of the North, Japanese scenes from the Edo period that could be seen during the series were recreated. One of these impressive sets was made in Port Moody, a picturesque city facing the sea and surrounded by mountains, located at the end of the Canadian fjord Burrard Inlet.
Finally, England was another of the key production locations. The crew traveled to London to film several scenes for the first season. It was in 2019, when the production company and the studio were about to lose the rights to the series. For this reason, they decided to record one of the most emblematic scenes of the series with actor Hiroyuki Sanada: Lord Yoshii Toranaga riding a horse next to the fire.
