Making History

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From Ha‘ikū to Hollywood... For Rachel Kondo and Justin Marks, co-creators of FX’s critically acclaimed hit drama Shōgun, the journey continues.

“We’re really excited about (season two),” says Marks during HILuxury’s interview with the couple at their home in upcountry Maui in late February. “We’re out of the writers’ room and putting together our production plan ... we’re aiming to get started right away.”

Adapted from the 1975 bestselling novel by James Clavell, Shōgun is widely considered the best television series of 2024. Inspired by true events set in early 1600s Japan, the show is a fictional retelling of the “battles, betrayals, and political turmoil of the Sengoku period.”

It took Kondo and Marks a lengthy five years to make Shōgun (which premiered on Feb. 27, 2024), with the majority of filming taking place in Canada instead of Japan due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Every detail — from the writing to the acting, production design, and costumes — was thoughtfully and authentically executed to perfection. The result: a 10-episode visual cinema masterpiece.

“When you’re doing it, nothing feels that way. It was a very strange alchemy,” recalls Kondo. “I think it’s two things ... Justin is incessant and he’s persistent. He insists on a very high degree of excellence, and he persists and doesn’t stop until he gets there.

“I think it was that bar. Everybody got their assignments, and everybody had to meet him there. The costuming — he found the exact right person for it. The casting, I think, was super important. We didn’t go with any household names in the West ... Justin convinced FX, and they were very supportive. And Justin insisted that the show be primarily in Japanese (with subtitles). FX really had good reason to question it, but to their credit, they fully supported it.”

According to Variety, the premiere episodes pulled in nine million views globally across Hulu, Disney+, and Star+ in their first six days of availability, making it the No. 1 scripted series premiere globally for Disney General Entertainment and the No. 1 premiere of an FX series on Hulu in the U.S.

Then came the awards — many awards. A record 18 Emmys, four Golden Globes, three Writers Guild Awards, four Screen Actors Guild Awards, and more.

During their acceptance speech at the SAG Awards for Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Drama Series, star Hiroyuki Sanada thanked FX, Kondo and Marks for “respecting our culture and believing in us.”

A scene from FX’s Shōgun. (Courtesy of FX Networks.)

Shōgun clearly dominated the film awards season, and, of course, Kondo and Marks are proud of the show’s success. But there’s so much more to this power couple than what you see on the red carpet.

Their reality (and their happy place) is the home they’ve built on a four-acre property in the small town of Haʻikū on the island of Maui, where they’re raising their two daughters — 3-year-old Romy and 5-year-old Cora.

It’s a magical oasis, where you’ll also find their beloved Bichon Frisé, Linus, multiple cats, chickens, and a 30-year-old tortoise rescued from the Lahaina fires named Tenshu, along with countless fruit trees, vegetables, and plants.

“I grew up in the outdoors, so for me, I wanted (my children) to have an upbringing where they’re comfortable walking around barefooted and grabbing insects...” Marks says, noting how one night he can be crammed between two banana trees spraying for coqui and the next he’s in a suit in L.A. at a star-studded event.

“The girls got their John Deere mini tractor and mini ATV that they drive around in. The nice thing about Haʻikū is every day you go out into the jungle and there’s something new.

“This right here, coming in, this tree is cacao... This mango tree here, completely accidental, I’m not sure when it showed up. It’s a wild little playground.”

Rachel Kondo and Justin Marks attend The Walt Disney Company Golden Globes Party at Funke in Beverly Hills. (Photo by Frank Micelotta / PictureGroup for Disney; Courtesy of FX Networks.)

Kondo, who was born and raised on Maui, graduated from Maui High School and attended Point Loma Nazarene University in San Diego and the Michener Center for Writers. In 2019, her story Girl of Few Seasons was included in The O. Henry Prize Stories and selected as a juror favorite by Elizabeth Strout.

Last fall, she and Marks were in Honolulu for the Hawai‘i International Film Festival, where they received the Halekulani Career Achievement Award and took part in a special screening of Shōgun followed by a Q&A.

Her childhood friend, filmmaker Destin Daniel Cretton (known for directing Marvel’s Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings), started a program for young artists and filmmakers on Maui called Hisako Film Lab, which they’ve become involved with.

Coming up, in addition to Shōgun season two, she’s working on a project based on her “heyday” of the ’90s on Maui, which is currently in the development stage with FX. “I’m very excited for it. We’ll see if it can happen,” she says.

Marks, who was born in Texas, grew up in New York and New Hampshire and graduated from Columbia College before moving to Los Angeles. He wrote Disney’s hit film The Jungle Book, is the Academy Award-nominated co-writer of the box office hit Top Gun: Maverick, and was the creator and showrunner of the STARZ television drama Counterpart.

With FX’s announcement of two more seasons of Shōgun in development, Marks says, for him, it’s just Shōgun all the time right now.

“We’re trying to do it in Vancouver and hopefully in Japan as well this time around,” he shares. “We have a lot of returning characters, but given the way season 1 ended, we also have a lot of new cast coming in that we’re really excited about, or new characters coming in that we’re excited to introduce to audiences.

“I think people will be pretty surprised, as soon as the first episode when they see sort of the big swing that the show is taking.”

While no timeline has been made public, Shōgun fans can bet it won’t take another five years this time around — a win already.

Marks and Kondo with Tenshu, their 30-year-old tortoise rescued from the Lahaina fires.