Meet Anna Sawai, the star of Shogun: 'Females in Asia aren't just young, small action heroes'
Anna Sawai may not be a household name in the UK yet, but her star is very much on the rise. Just months after shining opposite no less a co-star than Godzilla in Apple TV+ series Monarch: Legacy of Monsters, she will next be fronting the lavish historical drama ShÅgun, the biggest new show on Disney+.
Yet the Japanese actor was initially turned down for the role as Lady Mariko Toda in this 10-part adaptation of James Clavell 1975 bestseller. “They didn’t like me!” she says. “I didn’t get it so I was moving on to the next project.”
When the creators couldn’t find their Lady Mariko, the showrunner Justin Marks asked Sawai to read again but adapt her portrayal. “I think when I taped I was a bit too modern, aggressive, powerful,” Sawai says. “Whereas they wanted Mariko to have more quiet power within her. That made sense. And I guess they liked my new version.”
Sawai, 31, is in Tokyo, where she lives, when we talk about who washes up in Japan just as civil war is gripping the country. We find mysterious noblewoman Lady Mariko in the court of Yoshii Toranaga (Hiroyuki Sanada), who is facing domestic enemies uniting against him, as well as expanding empires from Europe.
