‘Shōgun’: Anna Sawai Explains Mariko’s Tragic Episode 9, ‘Crimson Sky’ (VIDEO)

[Warning: The following contains MAJOR spoilers for Shōgun Season 1 Episode 9, “Crimson Sky.”]

Lady Mariko singlehandedly turned the tide of Lord Toranaga’s (Hiroyuki Sanada) battle of wills with Lord Ishido (Takehiro Hira) in Shōgun‘s pivotal Episode 9. “Crimson Sky” saw Anna Sawai‘s character in Osaka, sent to make it known to all that Ishido was, in fact, keeping noble families hostage in the castle. She was to complete this mission by any means necessary, and she succeeded. But it came at a tragic cost.

In the TV Insider video interview above, Sawai breaks down Mariko’s story in Shōgun Episode 9, from her thwarted seppuku (suicide) and her romance with John Blackthorne (Cosmo Jarvis), to the deeply satisfying but emotional process that came with filming the episode. She reveals to us a deleted scene from “Crimson Sky” that gave both Mariko and her a moment of catharsis.

There were no truly pivotal moments cut from the episode, she says, but there were reaction shots that didn’t make it in. For example, after Mariko fought the guards at the gates of the Osaka castle, she was originally given a brief moment to grieve.

“Having all the men on her side sacrifice their lives, she returns and she goes into a corner and cries tears for all the lost lives,” Sawai reveals, noting that the scene still served a larger purpose even though it was ultimately excluded from the episode. “Those kind of scenes, they were cut. But I’m glad that we got to shoot it because for me, as an actor, going through all those scenes was very meaningful to me.”

Mariko fights the guards at Osaka castle to prove she’s being held hostage (Katie Yu / FX)

That fight with the guards was an important building block for her plan to expose Ishido’s motives.

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“She has a very clear goal to prove that she is being taken hostage,” Sawai explains. She paints a clearer picture of what Mariko was feeling in that moment.

“It was a lot of mixed emotions in that yes, she is seeing all these men die right in front of her, and after trying to fight them, she falls to the ground. And that is kind of a shame,” she says. “It is shameful in a way that they’re not letting her answer to her Lord’s needs, but then she knows that they’re not going to let her leave. And she knows that with this, she gets to move forward and make a statement about this whole thing that Ishido is trying to do. So ultimately it’s just she has conviction and everything is clear for her.”

Mariko and Toranaga share an unwavering clarity of their goals. That’s what makes Mariko such an important ally for Toranaga, one he can trust to do what’s needed for their cause even if it means sacrificing her life. Mariko did just that in the final moments of Episode 9.

Learn more about the end of Mariko’s powerful story from Sawai herself in the full video interview above, in which she also explains how this exceptional FX series has changed how she’ll choose roles in the future.

Shōgun, Series Finale, Tuesday, April 23, 10/9c, FX