Season 1 does end where the book ends. They said that they were doing a season 2 and 3 due to how well it was received. Everyone is worried about how it's going beyond the book, historical events should provide content but it remains to be seen how the writing will match the book.
The other books are very different, in genre, setting, and characters, there's a reason Shogun is the one that draws most people. Trying to hitch one of the other books to the success of one season of Shogun with a similar funding or crew seems like an assured death sentence - you're just more likely to report "viewership dropped by half from season 1 after the first episode of season 2", because maybe there's a lot of your initial audience that doesn't find in Taipan what they liked in Shogun, and you didn't do the work to build up a new audience that would watch this new season on its own when they skipped the "first season". It should just be treated as a completely different series, with different directors and everything, and it means starting from scratch with studios and money and everything.
The only way I could see it stand any chance as multiple seasons of a single show would be to advertise the "one time period per season" from the start and just make it animated, because you're not shuffling your acting cast from scratch every season (or trying to just keep the same cast across eras playing new characters and make it part of the advertising would be a much tougher choice of directing style to assume, and that's just straying away from the books for artsy points), but even with that, you need a stronger connecting line between the seasons than the books have.
11 replies
What? I thought it ended. I thought it ended masterfully! I guess I could watch more of it, I can always forget that it exists if it's bad.
I’ve read the book and I think people will be pretty surprised.
This is great news! Season 1 was awesome. I am curious where the story will go.
Oh, I didn't know they were doing season 2. I haven't watched the first one yet, though I have it downloaded, did it not finish the book plot or...?
Season 1 does end where the book ends. They said that they were doing a season 2 and 3 due to how well it was received. Everyone is worried about how it's going beyond the book, historical events should provide content but it remains to be seen how the writing will match the book.
A bit annoying that they didn't do Gai-Jin or Tai-Pan or something.. That would have been the obvious route for me.
Yep, I truly thought they would do the rest of books, but I guess milking it more is easier.
The book is great, I do wonder how they can keep up at that quality in a single year.
The other books are very different, in genre, setting, and characters, there's a reason Shogun is the one that draws most people. Trying to hitch one of the other books to the success of one season of Shogun with a similar funding or crew seems like an assured death sentence - you're just more likely to report "viewership dropped by half from season 1 after the first episode of season 2", because maybe there's a lot of your initial audience that doesn't find in Taipan what they liked in Shogun, and you didn't do the work to build up a new audience that would watch this new season on its own when they skipped the "first season". It should just be treated as a completely different series, with different directors and everything, and it means starting from scratch with studios and money and everything.
The only way I could see it stand any chance as multiple seasons of a single show would be to advertise the "one time period per season" from the start and just make it animated, because you're not shuffling your acting cast from scratch every season (or trying to just keep the same cast across eras playing new characters and make it part of the advertising would be a much tougher choice of directing style to assume, and that's just straying away from the books for artsy points), but even with that, you need a stronger connecting line between the seasons than the books have.
I get your point but White Lotus made it work.
I haven’t read the book, so can’t answer your question, but season 1 is definitely worth a watch!
I will for sure watch it. I've just been a bit busy. :)
I recommend reading the book, its one of my favorites.