‘Shogun’ Is Approaching the Endgame With Episode 9 on the Horizon

Shogun, the epic historical series based on James Clavell’s novels, is nearing the end of its story. With things heating up for Toranaga and his followers, episode 9, “Crimson Sky,” is bound to change everything. But when is it hitting Hulu?

Shogun tells the story of Lord Yoshii Toranaga (Hiroyuki Sanada), a lord in feudal-era Japan who fights for the lives of himself and his vassals when a power vacuum leaves a hostile council in control of the country. Along with an English ship pilot named John Blackthorne (Cosmo Jarvis) and the guarded translator Lady Toda Mariko (Anna Sawai), Toranaga navigates the bloody struggles of the lords jockeying for p0wer.

Crimson Sky approaches

Warning: this section contains spoilers for Shogun episode 8, “The Abyss of Life.”

At the end of episode 8, everything seems like it’s in shambles for Lord Toranaga. His son is dead, and at the end of his mourning period, he and his vassals will surrender to the council so that they can be executed. Blackthorne has finally found the remaining members of his crew, only to discover that they don’t trust him to get them back home. In one of the harrowing final scenes, Toranaga and the others watch as Hiromatsu, Toranaga’s closest friend, commits seppuku to protest Toranaga’s plan to give up.

However, when the episode ends, we find out that Toranaga has something much more complicated up his sleeve. He has intentionally engineered his vassals’ dissatisfaction in order to provoke Yabushige and Blackthorne into an alliance. Did Toranaga and Hiromatsu plan Hiromatsu’s death beforehand, or did Toranaga let Hiromatsu believe that he truly planned to give up without a fight? Either way, Crimson Sky—Toranaga’s plan to attack Osaka—is on.

When does episode 9 of Shogun come out?

You don’t have to wait too much longer to see what happens next in Shogun. Episode 9, “Crimson Sky,” comes out on Hulu on Tuesday, April 16.

After that, Shogun has just one episode left: episode 10, “A Dream of a Dream.” That episode will come out on April 23.

(featured image: FX / Hulu)