‘Shogun’ Star Breaks Down That Dying in Penultimate Episode

[This story contains major spoilers from Shōgun’s ninth episode, “Crimson Sky.”]

Shōgun star Anna Sawai is bidding adieu to Girl Akechi Mariko. 

The Japanese actor, who was born in New Zealand and raised in Japan, considers the acclaimed miniseries’ penultimate episode, “Crimson Sky,” to be her “closing farewell” to her fan-favorite character. Written by Rachel Kondo/Caillin Puente and directed by Frederick E.O. Toye, the dramatic curler coaster of an episode concluded with Mariko sacrificing her life for Lord Yoshii Toranaga (Hiroyuki Sanada), all in an effort to sign Ishido Kazunari’s (Takehiro Hira) corruption and hopefully spark a insurrection. However as Sawai will quickly discover out, when an actor is lucky sufficient to catch lightning in a bottle and create a beloved character, the viewers and the world at giant endlessly hold that character’s spirit alive — whether or not it’s via a praise at a espresso store, an interplay at a fan expo or perhaps a query at a future press junket.

Final December, throughout a press day for Sawai’s second of three current high-profile sequence, Monarch: Legacy of Monsters, The Hollywood Reporter — and this author — occurred to be the primary outlet to ever ask Sawai about Shōgun. A lot to her personal shock, she was so caught off guard by the query that she turned overwhelmed with tearful emotion, all whereas photographs from this fateful ninth episode flooded her mind.

“If you requested me about [Shōgun], I hadn’t revisited the character since we wrapped. So it was like somebody was touching that wound as a result of her story is so bittersweet, and my complete expertise on it was simply so particular,” Sawai now tells THR over Zoom whereas in Tokyo, Japan.

However there’s extra to Mariko’s climactic sacrifice than meets the attention. Sure, she’s drawing consideration to Ishido’s crimes of holding members of Lord Toranaga’s clan hostage and now assassinating a few of them, however she purposefully proclaims herself by her maiden identify, “Akechi Mariko,” simply moments earlier than the warehouse blast would take her life. 

Because it turned out, she was enjoying the lengthy sport she’d been prevented from ending for 14-plus years, so her present-day sacrifice was supposed for each Lord Taranaga and her disgraced father, Lord Akechi Jinsai. The latter killed Japan’s pre-Taikō ruler, Lord Kuroda Nobuhisa, over his alleged corruption, and in response, Mariko’s father was pressured to execute the remainder of their household earlier than committing seppuku himself. Mariko tried to observe go well with together with her personal seppuku in protest of this injustice, however Toda Buntaro (Shinnosuke Abe), as her newly wedded husband, routinely denied her annual request.

“It’s such a strong second as a result of she’s not solely serving her Lord [Toranaga], however she’s additionally fulfilling her father’s needs. She’s permitting herself to observe within the footsteps of her father, which is her want,” Sawai says. “Her identify is at present Toda Mariko, which is Buntaro’s final identify, however she says ‘Akechi Mariko’ in her closing second. She is all the time going to be her father’s daughter, and that is the lengthy, lengthy journey. It’s the lengthy combat [involving her father]. It’s not nearly proper now.”

Earlier within the episode, Mariko was on the verge of committing seppuku till Ishido interrupted the continuing to feign like he was lastly allowing her occasion to depart Osaka Fortress. And regardless of figuring out that she’d survive the tense ordeal, Sawai nonetheless approached the scene as if Mariko was going to die, making the day quite emotional, particularly when she acknowledged a parallel between the character’s current and previous.

“On the day, I noticed her son [Toda Ryûji] within the right-hand nook, and that basically, actually modified all the things. What then went via my thoughts was that she needed to mainly see her household die in entrance of her, and now she was going to do the identical factor to her son,” Sawai remembers. “So I feel that Mariko was eager about the massive image a lot that she wasn’t in a position to actually face what it might imply to depart her son in that very same place.”

Beneath, throughout our current spoiler dialog, Sawai additionally discusses what John “Anjin” Blackthorne in the end represented to Mariko and her one lingering query involving her character’s definition freedom.

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Once we spoke for Monarch: Legacy of Monsters, I requested about Shōgun on the very finish of our chat, and also you then turned visibly emotional as you defined the way you hadn’t talked about it but. So I simply need to begin by asking in the event you bear in mind what was in your thoughts on the time and whether or not this climactic ninth episode factored into your feelings that day? 

I used to be simply speaking about you in my earlier assembly, since you had been the primary one which introduced up Shōgun to me, and I used to be so greatly surprised and shocked at how I used to be reacting to your query. However it was simply her complete journey and what the present meant to me, and I suppose I used to be nonetheless carrying it at that second. Proper now, I’m slowly beginning to have the ability to speak about the entire present with out breaking down, however once you requested me about it, I hadn’t revisited the character since we wrapped. So it was like somebody was touching that wound as a result of her story is so bittersweet, and my complete expertise on it was simply so particular. 

Did photographs from episode 9 flash via your thoughts on the time?

Yeah, these photographs undoubtedly did flash via my thoughts. I really feel like I’m nonetheless on the point of say goodbye. I used to be texting somebody from FX, and I used to be like, “This week is my closing farewell to the character.” 

On the finish of episode eight, Toranaga (Hiroyuki Sanada) asks Mariko if she’s able to do her half, and she or he actually was. How lengthy do you assume that they had their plan in place?

Mariko is barely discovering out in that second that this was all a part of the plan. She was mourning Hiromatsu-sama [Tokuma Nishioka], her father-in-law, as a result of she thought that they weren’t in it collectively. And that’s why when she does hear about how Hiromatsu-sama sacrificed his life with a view to fulfill his function to the Lord [Toranaga], that’s her realization of, “Oh, this was all speculated to occur, and now it’s my flip to do regardless of the Lord asks.” And so, in that second, she acknowledges that, after which episode 9 is all about her simply taking motion. 

I wrongly assumed that the plan was in place for a short while. I assumed that defined why, in episode eight, Mariko was so prepared to twist the figurative knife into Buntaro (Shinnosuke Abe), figuring out that she’d by no means see him once more.

In episode seven, we see her ask the Lord for permission to take her personal life, and she or he wouldn’t ask for that if she knew that it was all a part of the plan. She was slightly bit misplaced then. It’s so fascinating as a result of individuals form of love Buntaro’s character, however from my perspective, Mariko has been via a really tough time with him. They by no means shared a cheerful marriage. She didn’t need to get married to him, and he was very abusive, not solely to her, however to her son as effectively. And it’s such a egocentric factor that he’s asking for, and she or he is aware of that they’re all about to die, as a result of the Lord is about to surrender. So she doesn’t need to give [a shared death] to him, and she or he needs him to know that she’s not completely satisfied and that she was by no means pleased with their marriage. And despite the fact that loss of life is what she needs, loss of life with him just isn’t what she’s searching for.

We start episode 9 with a flashback to 14 years earlier when Mariko was pregnant and suicidal. It serves as a distinction to her present-day storyline and the way she’s now prepared to sacrifice her life underneath markedly completely different circumstances. Her household’s finish, as she described in episode 5, was solely motivating her try throughout the flashback?

Sure, it’s much less about feeling shameful for nonetheless dwelling, and it’s extra about, “I don’t agree with the truth that my father and my complete household needed to die, but when that’s what occurred, then I shall observe their footsteps. I’m going to be with them. I’m a part of this complete protest.” So that’s the which means behind her will to die all through the entire present. It’s not that she’s saddened and simply needs to die. It’s extra like, “I don’t agree with this. This isn’t proper.” And that’s the message that she retains till her final breath. 

Again within the current, she arrives in Osaka, and she or he quickly tries to determine that Ishido (Takehiro Hira) is holding her and her occasion captive. So was the plan to take her life in protest of this captivity and hopefully set off a revolt from the excessive households or somebody of affect?

Sure, nobody’s speaking about how the members of the family are being held hostage, and she or he’s attempting to show some extent, as a result of Ishido is being the manipulative particular person that he’s and pretending like he’s not. And if he’s taking the individuals hostage, then that can also be a motive for warfare. That’s going to trigger a very completely different factor, and so she’s attempting to show that time. And he or she is aware of that he’s not going to let her go, however by with the ability to showcase that to everybody, Toranaga-sama can take motion. So proving that [Ishido] is taking everybody hostage is the entire level of that scene. 

Her son, Toda Ryûji (Yuua Yamanaka), and Anjin (Cosmo Jarvis) each attempt to persuade her to not commit seppuku, however she refuses their pleas. Is that this simply one other instance of how allegiance to a lord tops all else, even blood?

Anjin-sama undoubtedly believes in a significant life differently, and her son is simply too younger to essentially perceive. However she believes that loss of life can have a better trigger. She believes that her life isn’t one thing that she ought to be too treasured about if it could show one thing. And so, sure, if this all seems the best way that the Lord plans … she is aware of that the Lord is wanting on the greater image, in order that’s the rationale why she tells them she will be able to’t keep.

Anjin takes problem with Toranaga’s sample of utilizing his most loyal vassals to do his bidding. Does a part of you agree with him, even when Mariko doesn’t?

I want there was a greater approach to do it with out having his closest individuals take their lives, however on this scenario, it was most likely essential. Toranaga-sama can’t go into the fort and do all this. It will end up utterly otherwise. So he wants these individuals, and it’s simply essential. Toranaga-sama is the chief. He’s not solely eager about himself, however he’s additionally eager about the entire of Japan. And so it might’ve been higher if there have been different methods to go about it, however that is the mandatory factor to do. It’s to make use of the individuals closest to you and to solely share your plan with them, in order that the entire of Japan will observe, and the leaders on the opposite aspect received’t know. 

Yabushige (Tadanobu Asano) betrayed Mariko and everybody else that’s tied to Toranaga’s clan. Do you assume she could be all that shocked by his double cross? 

I feel she could be shocked in a manner, but when anybody had been to do it, I feel she would have guessed that it was Yabushige-sama.

By saying Ishido’s treachery proper earlier than her explosive loss of life, is she largely saying that for her personal sake earlier than she passes on? Or is it for the witnesses in entrance of her?

I feel it’s for the witnesses and for herself. If it had been just for herself, possibly she wouldn’t even should vocalize it, so she needs individuals to know why she is doing this. It’s such a strong second as a result of she’s not solely serving her Lord, however she’s additionally fulfilling her father’s needs. She’s permitting herself to observe within the footsteps of her father, which is her want. And in that second, she does need the witnesses to listen to it, as a result of that is the primary and the final time that she’ll say, “Akechi Mariko,” which is her final identify from her father and her first identify. Her identify is at present Toda Mariko, which is Buntaro’s final identify, however she says Akechi Mariko in her closing second. She is all the time going to be her father’s daughter, and that is the lengthy, lengthy journey. It’s the lengthy combat [involving her father]. It’s not nearly proper now.

Between her close to seppuku scene and her precise loss of life scene, had been each days equally emotional for you?

Sure, if I went into the seppuku scene, pondering, “Effectively, she’s going to dwell,” then it wouldn’t have had that weight. So I went into it pondering that this was actually the second that she was going to die, and I bear in mind being shocked. I had solely thought in regards to the which means of serving her Lord and having to take her life in entrance of the witnesses. However then, on the day, I noticed her son within the right-hand nook, and that basically, actually modified all the things. What then went via my thoughts was that she needed to mainly see her household die in entrance of her, and now she was going to do the identical factor to her son. So I feel that Mariko was eager about the massive image a lot that she wasn’t in a position to actually face what it might imply to depart her son in that very same place. And so, on the day, I used to be having completely different realizations.

After which, going into the final warehouse scene, it was a really completely different loss of life scene as a result of that one comes slightly bit extra spontaneously. She did assume that she was going to be launched the subsequent day and that the hostages could be launched, however then she realizes, “Oh, they’re not going to cease. They’re not going to permit me to exit.” And so it’s only a very fast second of recognizing what she must do, and it’s way more highly effective as a result of there’s not sufficient time for her to get emotional about it and undergo all the things in her head. It’s like, “That is what I must do. Bye.”

She’s lived most of her life in accordance with the principles, rituals and obligations that include her tradition, allegiance and obligation. Did Anjin in the end characterize her one actual brush with free will and her personal needs? 

I feel so. I don’t assume that she knew this to start with, however as she will get nearer to him and he begins vocalizing what freedom is to him — particularly in episode 4 after they have their speak on the sizzling spring — they get to flee for a second. It’s not actuality to her. It’s not life like in any respect, however I feel she understands that they’ll possibly dream about it. In an ideal world, she wouldn’t should be tied down like this, however then once more, that’s not her freedom. That may be a completely different model of freedom. I don’t know if I utterly perceive what freedom means to her, as a result of there’s the scene the place she says, “If freedom is all you reside for, then you definitely’ll by no means be freed from your self.” So what does freedom imply to her? I don’t know. However freedom as we all know it? Sure. John Blackthorne was that to her.

It’s mighty spectacular how this sequence dramatized scenes involving interpretation. Given that you simply’re additionally bilingual, are you no stranger to enjoying the function of interpreter? 

Yeah, I’ve carried out it, however not actually because a number of my pals do communicate Japanese and English. We really combine each languages. However on the set of Shōgun, if the interpreter wasn’t there, then I might form of step in. And even when there are translators, typically it doesn’t translate as instantly. So lots of people would chip in — and I might be considered one of them — to attempt to get the message throughout. And so, sure, I’ve carried out it very often. 

A long time from now, once you reminisce in regards to the expertise of enjoying Girl Mariko on Shōgun, what day will you doubtless recall first? 

That’s a extremely troublesome query! (Laughs.) I’m simply pondering of a day that was most likely throughout episode three. Toranaga snuck into the palanquin earlier than all of us set off, and I used to be simply so completely satisfied that there have been horses there. (Laughs.) So I’m simply pondering of that random day proper now, however I might have a extra profound reply if I had extra time to consider it. I simply bear in mind everybody carrying Covid masks, however I might nonetheless go as much as the horses and take mine off after I was actually shut to at least one. So I’ve a number of completely satisfied recollections with the horses.

Effectively, I’m glad we acquired to complete what we began on Monarch.

Yeah, it’s been such a journey. I’ll be trustworthy, once you requested me about what day I used to be going to consider many years from now, I nearly teared up once more … (Sawai begins to cry.) 

Oh no! I’m getting you to cry once more. Why do I hold doing this!?

(Sawai is now laughing and crying.) You had been the primary one to ask about Shōgun and simply eager about this complete journey, it’s an emotional factor. 

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Shōgun is at present airing on FX and Hulu.