If you liked Shogun, you need to watch this series on Netflix: It fell into oblivion, but it was one of the most expensive series in the world – News Series – as seen on the Web

In terms of critics, it’s not as highly rated, but it definitely has a lot in common with what is already one of the best shows of 2024.

Compared to Game of Thrones itself for its political intrigue, unexpected twists, epic action and spectacular visuals, there’s no doubt that Shogun: The Glorious Saga of Japan, the series that Disney+ debuted last February, will be at the top of best-of lists series of the year when 2024 comes to an end.

With a 99% score on Rotten Tomatoes, it’s clear that critics have bent the knee to the landmark series. A fiction set in 17th century feudal Japan, adapted from the novel of the same name by James Clavell, which was turned into a film in 1980, presents a tense scenario in which ambition for power plays a fundamental role: while Lord Yoshii Toranaga (Hiroyuki Sanada) , a powerful daimyo, struggles to maintain himself while his numerous political enemies conspire against him, a mysterious European ship appears abandoned in a fishing village. Its captain is none other than John Blackthorne (Cosmo Jarvis), a character based on a real historical figure who arrives directly from England loaded with secrets that could be the key to Toronaga’s survival.

The episodes that make up Shogun are already available on Disney+, but despite its success, it seems highly unlikely that the series will have a 2nd season when it comes to an end. Conceived as a miniseries, creators Rachel Kondo and Justin Marks confirmed that the series will end after 10 episodes have been produced: “We tell the story of the book [de James Clavell] from start to finish and that was always the plan. So to be honest, I don’t know if we could do a second season,” Justin Marks told Collider.

However, if you loved the series, be sure to check out other shows with which it has a lot in common and that you can easily watch on streaming.

A perfect example is the Netflix original series Marco Polo, an ambitious production that celebrated its 10th anniversary in 2024 and which debuted in 2014 as one of the streaming platform’s first productions.

In terms of criticism, there is no comparison and, in fact, Marco Polo received a lukewarm reception, but it definitely has many elements in common with Shogun.

Although in the Netflix series we travel to Mongolia in the 13th century, a far cry from 17th century Japan, it resembles the new hit Disney+ series, as Marco Polo also follows in the footsteps of a European explorer in an unknown country and in a culture completely different from yours.

In it, Italian merchant and ambassador Marco Polo (Lorenzo Richelmy) embarks on a long journey to the mysterious East with the aim of reaching unexplored corners of the world and starting new trade routes with them, but, like John Blackthorne, he becomes involved in the dynamics of the court of the Mongol leader Kublai Khan, involving intrigue, revenge and struggles for power.

Aired for two seasons before being cancelled, Marco Polo mixes political intrigue, espionage, romance and martial arts and, like Shogun, was also the target of comparisons with Game of Thrones. At the time, the series was said to be Netflix’s attempt to get a series on the same level as what had become a phenomenon on HBO, and it spent a lot of money to do so.

Although 10 years later there are much more expensive series, at the time Marco Polo ended up being one of the most expensive series not only on Netflix, but in history, and was only surpassed in budget by Game of Thrones.

*Translation from a partner site of QuandoCinema

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