Samurai-Clad Ren Meguro Shows Serious Intent—SHOGUN First Appearance and Thoughts on Moving to Canada

Filming Abroad for Nearly 10 Months

Ren Meguro (28) has been cast in Season 2 of the Hollywood-produced global drama SHOGUN. Disney+ announced the news on November 18.

Meguro will play a new character named Kazutada. Regarding his casting, he commented:

“When I watched SHOGUN on Disney+ last year, I was moved by how different it was from the typical portrayals of Japan in overseas productions, as well as by its epic scale. As a Japanese person, I strongly felt that I absolutely wanted to be part of this project.”

He thoroughly researched articles about the series himself and participated in auditions held earlier this year—ultimately winning a coveted spot as part of “Team SHOGUN.”

Meguro added:

“For the past year, I’ve constantly imagined myself filming SHOGUN. I want to fully carry forward what so many people have built, treasure this project, and bring my assigned role to life with care.”

Season 1 of SHOGUN starred and was produced by Hiroyuki Sanada (65). It won the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actor at the 76th Emmys last year, and Best Actor in a Television Drama at this year’s 82nd Golden Globe Awards.

According to a source at a talent agency interviewed by this site:

“I heard about auditions for the SHOGUN sequel, but the biggest issue was the length of the commitment. From January next year, actors must devote about 10 months to filming in Vancouver, Canada. It’s almost impossible to balance with work in Japan. Actors who already have projects lined up for next year couldn’t fit it into their schedules. So when I heard that the very in-demand Meguro was cast, I was shocked. Normally it wouldn’t happen. They must have built his schedule entirely around SHOGUN—a real SHOGUN-first approach.”

In other words, starting next January, Meguro will relocate to Canada for an extended period. It’s a major decision. According to a music industry insider:

“The Snow Man members are fully supporting Meguro’s decision. They’re even considering visiting him in Canada at some point.”

Snow Man also received an offer to appear on Kōhaku

Snow Man made headlines when their name was absent from the list of performers for the 76th NHK Kōhaku Uta Gassenon New Year’s Eve. From STARTO ENTERTAINMENT (formerly Johnny’s), the only group appearing this year is King & Prince. During the selection process, Snow Man also received an offer—but they declined.

“A rejection like this led some people to speculate about a rift between NHK and Snow Man, but that’s reading too much into it. Snow Man has been doing livestream concerts on New Year’s Eve for the past few years, and fans absolutely love them. Their first event in 2023 had over 1.33 million simultaneous connections, and last year about 1.27 million viewers watched live. This year’s event hasn’t been decided yet, but many fans would want to see off Meguro before he leaves for Canada in January.” (Sports newspaper reporter)

Meguro deeply admires Hiroyuki Sanada of SHOGUN, who moved his base to Hollywood in 2005. His work in Japan now consists mostly of commercials, and he declines offers for domestic dramas and films.

“It’s not that Sanada dislikes Japan—he simply loves the creative freedom of Hollywood sets. Over there, actors and crew stand on equal footing as one family. Meguro likely wanted to step into that kind of world as well.” (Same sports reporter)

Payment systems also differ greatly from Japan. According to actor Tokuma Nishioka (79), who appeared in SHOGUNSeason 1 and spoke on Fuji TV’s Poka Poka last November, if filming runs long, crew members are paid properly for the overtime: after 8 hours it becomes 1.5×, and after 12 hours it becomes 2×. Some extras reportedly earned 6 million yenwithout uttering a single line.

For actor Ren Meguro, appearing in SHOGUN may become the biggest challenge of his career so far. Will he soar into the world in his dignified samurai form—?