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The Unforgettable Power of Anna Sawai

As Mariko on FX’s ‘Shōgun,’ the actress put together one of the year’s most awe-striking performances. “The real strength is within [Mariko],” Sawai says. “The most powerful people are the people that don’t really show it.”

In the end, she sacrifices herself for a greater cause: Mariko saves everyone by taking the blunt force of a dynamite explosion, which turns the tide of the war. Below, Sawai discusses her Shōgun exit, Mariko’s journey, and why she believes a series about feudal Japan is resonating so much with audiences today. When I spoke to Hiroyuki Sanada last summer, I asked him if there was ever a time when he wanted to correct an American director on something that he considered incorrect or insensitive about Japanese culture.

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