last samurai standing
netflix
Yesterday, I commented that Last Samurai Standing on Netflix had an exceedingly rare double 100% Rotten Tomatoes scores across both critics and audiences. Today, that’s almost still true, albeit the audience scores is down to (gasp) a 98%. The show remains at #3 on Netflix’s top 10 list, and given that it is not listed as a miniseries, that raises questions about a Last Samurai Standing season 2.
Well, we have an update on that, and it’s a good one. Netflix has not renewed it, but according to an interview with ScreenRant, creator Michihito Fujii has plans for a longer tale than what we’ve seen here. His answers about how many seasons he wants:
“Two or three seasons. However, sometimes future seasons happen two or three years later, and viewers forget what happened in the past. Because I’m a fan of Netflix, I try to convey as much as I can in one season. I like to do as much as possible. If we could conclude the whole story with another season, I think that’s our mission.”
Fujii touches on a frequent problem with Netflix, or really most streaming services, where 2-3 year waits between seasons can sometimes kill momentum for even once-liked series. But he maintains that he wants at least one more season, and if he did get another, he could finish his vision, most likely. That said, season 1 was structured to be at least somewhat conclusive if not.
Last Samurai Standing
Netflix
Right now, it seems likely that Last Samurai Standing will end up with a second season. These are stellar scores, and a brand new foreign-language series debuting this high on Netflix’s top 10 list, even in the US, is significant, and we will see if it has staying power. Fujii is right though. I’m thinking of the case of All of Us Are Dead, the well-liked Korean zombie series that aired in January 2022. It was renewed for season 2, but it took until July 2025 to even begin production, indicating that it’s going to be at least four years between seasons. I think Fujii very much wants to avoid a situation like that.
The surviving cast members of the series would no doubt also like to return, and if you’ve seen the series, you can understand how there is more story to tell. I have seen at least some shift toward Netflix wanting more “finished” series with at least a few less cancellations than we used to see, in order to avoid an endless graveyard of unfinished shows that often become not worth starting as a result, a rotting part of its catalogue.
Hopefully, we will hear something official soon, but it can take weeks or months for a renewal like this to be announced, even for a well-performing show.
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Pick up my sci-fi novels the Herokiller series and The Earthborn Trilogy.