Anna Sawai is Marie Claire's newest cover star, but there's one line in her cover story she's nervous for her mother to read.

In the story, writer Anna Peele describes Sawai as "anxious" about her mom finding out the Shōgun actress wakes up at 8 a.m. "I feel like the lazy one in my family," she says.

Though the star can hardly be characterized as lazy—more on that in a second—she does stand out in her family for a couple of reasons. Her sister Reina confirmed to Marie Claire that Sawai is quick to cry and always has been, as well as calling her sometimes "mischievous." Reina also shared that her sister was the loudest person in the Sawai household, with the caveat that "we’re a pretty quiet family," per Reina.

Despite the "lazy" allegation, you only have to look at Sawai's work schedule to understand how diligent she actually is (not to mention, a typical day in her life involves a weight training session). Fresh off her blockbusting role as Toda Mariko on the TV drama Shōgun, Sawai is slated to appear in two buzzy projects.

Firstly, she stars in David Leitch's How to Rob a Bank alongside Pete Davidson, Nicholas Hoult, Zoë Kravitz, Christian Slater and John C. Reilly. The movie comes out Nov. 13.

And secondly, she got her dream role when she was cast as Yoko Ono in the four upcoming Sam Mendes-directed Beatles biopics, with Harris Dickinson as her John Lennon. While preparing for the role, she's gotten close with Ono and Lennon's son Sean Lennon, to whom she asks regular fact-checking questions.

Anna Sawai is on the cusp of playing a role she's dreamed about for years: Yoko Ono, legendary artist and widow of John Lennon.

In a new cover story for Marie Claire, the Shōgun actress explains what it's like preparing for this role—including the insider she's recruited to help her feel ready: Ono and Lennon's son Sean.

Speaking to writer Anna Peele, Sawai shares that she has connected with Sean since being cast, explaining that, per Peele, she regularly texts the 50-year-old musician "fact-checking questions about Ono’s real feelings about things."

The role is for Sam Mendes' upcoming quartet of biopics about each member of The Beatles. Sawai will portray Ono opposite Harris Dickinson's John Lennon (Paul Mescal is Paul McCartney, Joseph Quinn is George Harrison, and Barry Keoghan is Ringo Starr). Interestingly, all four movies will be released at the same time, in April 2028, as reported by Variety.

The actress' desire to portray Ono began when she was in high school and had to undergo a mock interview. She was asked about a real person she'd love to play. Sawai told her mother, "I don’t know who to mention. Every story that I know in Hollywood is so white." It was her mom's idea that her daughter answer Yoko Ono, which prompted those around Sawai to ask why she wanted to play a woman people "hate."

Before she was even cast in the role, the up-and-coming star had been looking into optioning a book about the icon. Then Mendes reached out and asked her to read the script for the films before she accepted the role, specifically because "he knew how particular I was about her story." Per Peele, it's like Sawai "manifested" the role of Ono.

Anna Sawai is crying. But she is not simply crying; she’s crying about another time she cried. It was at the 2024 Emmys, when the now 34-year-old became the first person to publicly identify as being of Asian descent to win the award for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Drama Series. Sawai received the Emmy (and the Golden Globe and the Screen Actors Guild award) for her work playing the translator Toda Mariko in FX’s Shōgun.

Sawai does not cry the way Mariko cries. Mariko is self-protective, and her tears are a rare resource reserved for private moments with the few people she trusts enough to be vulnerable in front of. Sawai’s tears are as common as her peals of giggles, ready for duty and prone to pouring out whenever she experiences any strong sensation, which is almost always. As Shōgun co-creator Rachel Kondo tells me, “Anna’s a crier because she’s a feeler.”

“I think it’s just when I get overwhelmed, I don’t know how to process the emotion, and then it just comes out as tears,” Sawai says on the roof of The London West Hollywood hotel in L.A. on a sunny Saturday in June. “But I think the tears are what kind of let me release everything that’s, like, boiling up.”

These eruptions distinguished Sawai within her family, which moved from New Zealand to Hong Kong to the Philippines for her father’s job at an electronics company, before settling in Tokyo when Sawai was 10. Her sister Reina naturally remembers lots of weeping—one time, Sawai tripped during a ballet performance, and the ensuing sobs were captured by her parents’ recording. Reina adds that Sawai has sometimes been “mischievous” and says she was always the loudest person in the house, though her sister does note, “We’re a pretty quiet family.” Sawai has seen her mother cry only three times, one of which was when she won the Emmy. (No actual drops left Mrs. Sawai’s welling eyes, though Sawai does start crying herself at the memory, in addition to her matryoshka doll of tears today over tears from that evening.)

Sawai walks me through a day off in her life—enjoying the waterfront view from her new home in a beautiful place she asks me not to disclose the location of; weight training; drinking two to three cups of coffee; texting with her group chat of college friends, “The Birthday Girls.” Then she gets anxious about the thought of her mom reading this and knowing she wakes up at 8 a.m. “I feel like the lazy one in my family,” Sawai says.

She spent years being trained to control herself—to live up to what she calls the stoicism of her family, the rigors of ballet training that she never quite mastered, and Japanese culture itself, where Sawai always felt like she wasn’t doing things the way people wanted her to, no matter how strong her drive was to be a “people pleaser.” But sitting here on this roof, unrehearsed, as Sawai succumbs to the emotions that go off like fireworks at any spark of stimuli, it feels obvious why she’s poised to become a movie star, with forthcoming roles as a grieving heist member in David Leitch’s How to Rob a Bank and Yoko Ono in Sam Mendes’s quartet of Beatles biopics. Maybe the quality filmmakers keep responding to isn’t just how Sawai disappears into a character, but how she has learned to let herself be seen.

There were detours on the path to productive emotional abandon. During college, Sawai entered the world of J-pop as the founding member of girl group Faky. Though she loves singing, Sawai describes the experience as the nadir of her life. “We really had no agency at all,” she says. “That’s just the way the industry is in Japan.” Sawai was informed where she’d be and what she would do when she got there. She was forbidden to write her own music, lest the management company not control every part of the process. In addition to the job being creatively unfulfilling, the pay was shit—Sawai only earned enough money to live through her three-year stint as a pop star by working as a cashier at the Abercrombie & Fitch in Ginza. She still remembers the smell of the cologne, now shuddering at the scent memory in her sleeveless polka-dot Reformation dress.

That’s when she came to a realization. She was working as a checkout girl in a retail job she didn’t want while she waited for her backup dream job to come through. “I had a crisis of like, What am I doing with my life?” Sawai says. “I’m not even doing the thing that I really wanna do.”

If Sawai was going to go for a career that was virtually impossible to succeed at, she might as well do what she had always wanted to: act, which she’d started doing at age 11 in a regional production of Annie and continued through “beginner-friendly acting lessons” that a previous management agency had provided around the time of Sawai’s first film role in Ninja Assassin. Acting was not a priority of the management’s plan for Sawai’s subsequent J-pop stardom.

Sawai’s incredibly strict contract was up for renewal, and she quit with a plan to move to L.A. to be an actor, but no work lined up or connections there.

She used her Abercrombie money to sign up for IMDbPro so that any interested representatives could reach out. Soon after, talent manager Jake Miller was enjoying a glass of red wine and tipsily watching Ninja Assassin, the 2009 film a teenage Sawai had a small but notable role in and which had fortuitously just been added to a streaming service to which Miller subscribed. (It featured stunts coordinated by future How to Rob a Bank director David Leitch—call it fate.) Miller went to Sawai’s IMDb page to check what projects she’d done since Ninja Assassin, saw that the answer was none, and sent a note to the Gmail address listed. He is still Sawai’s manager more than seven years later.

Sawai interrupts herself after revealing details like this, worrying that she’s doing the wrong thing by being honest. She identifies this as her J-pop training taking over. “In the music industry, I was taught to always be like, ‘Oh, hello! My name is Anna!’” she says, putting on a voice and face with a disciplined cheeriness that is much more restrained than her usual warm expulsiveness as she imagines meeting a fan or being interviewed on camera. “That sense of when someone knows you, you’re like, I have to be proper and make sure that I don’t disappoint them, and be smiley and happy.”

While describing her journey from praying for side-character work in The Fast and the Furious franchise to getting offered major film roles without reading for them, Sawai tells another story that she worries is too revealing, about losing a much (to her) coveted role in John Wick: Chapter 4. Sawai’s manager informed her that she hadn’t got the part, and she told him she wanted to stop auditioning for the television show she’d already read for several times. He convinced her to go in one more time. After that final audition, she learned that she’d booked Shōgun, which she wouldn’t have been able to take if she’d gotten John Wick. It turned out it had taken so many tests because Kondo and her husband and co-creator Justin Marks were rewriting the role of Mariko based on what Sawai was doing with the part.

“It does feel like fate,” Sawai says. “Every job that I haven’t been able to get and then I cried over, now that I look back, I’m like, Oh, I’m glad that it didn’t happen, because otherwise I couldn’t have done this.” She caveats this by noting that your fate can change if you veer from the path that will lead you to it or fail to will it into existence; call it Sawai’s version of manifesting. Wow, Sawai thinks to herself sometimes. My belief brought me here.

Sawai’s confidence has led to this point in her career, with substantial parts in risky but rewarding projects. Shōgun possessed a number of factors that, on paper, don’t indicate an obvious hit: much of the dialogue is spoken in period Japanese and focuses on the intricacies of battle strategy and local politics. There is a lot of calligraphy and tea pouring. Sawai’s character Mariko is a translator, and there are many scenes where the same sentences are repeated with subtle differences as Mariko works a very specific brand of soft diplomacy. In execution, the show—and Sawai’s performance, particularly—is riveting.

This attraction to challenge includes Sawai’s next project, How to Rob a Bank, out later this fall. It seems impossible that at no point during production did anyone powerful find out what the movie was about—or even see the title—and say, “Sorry, absolutely not.” The movie takes on the ills of modern capitalism and its effects on the healthcare and financial systems. How to Rob a Bank is both radically anti-income inequality and distributed by Amazon MGM Studios, which is famously overseen by Jeff Bezos, whose yacht cost half a billion dollars. “So many billionaires are taking away things, or companies might take away things from people who literally don’t have a lot to give,” says Sawai, who is shocked by the wealth disparity in America. “I don’t understand why it’s gone so extreme. Like, it could have been stopped way before.” This would fall under the category of things Sawai would not have revealed when she was still in what she calls “Japanese talent mode” but is willing to say now.

Sawai and Nicholas Hoult are the film’s central love story, and share a kind of loss that Sawai finds an even more accessible emotion than the other readily available ones. Though she has little personal experience with death, seeing it depicted in art always makes her weep. “I feel like in my past life I’ve lost someone really important to me,” Sawai says. “A lover, a family member. I don’t know who it is, but I have grieved a lot in my past life.” Leitch cast Sawai after seeing her on Shōgun, and had not remembered they’d worked together until someone told him. She’s “just someone who can be completely still and you can’t look away,” he says. “That’s not something you can teach.” Though they’re still grappling in her mind, Sawai has learned to let the control she can never quiet work in concert with passion, rather than allowing her muscular superego to smother her id.

The anguish that the characters in How to Rob a Bank feel does not keep the movie from being extremely fun to watch. (So fun, apparently, that the studio moved the release date from September to a more desirable pre-Thanksgiving slot.) It was also a delight to make. While they were filming in Pittsburgh, Hoult, Pete Davidson, Sawai, and Rhenzy Feliz, the fourth member of the heist crew, would go out for meals and excursions to a local amusement park to build an esprit de corps. During dinners that also included John C. Reilly and Zoë Kravitz, Sawai noticed that the sum of their fame drew people to watch them eat and whisper about them. But it was only Davidson who would inspire them to call out: “Pete. Pete! Is that you, Pete?” This is so disrespectful, Sawai thought.

She doesn’t get stopped often—she wore wigs for her roles in Pachinko and Shōgun, which also entailed historically accurate styling that is very unlike Sawai’s layered lob and iridescent manicure. Her affect is also completely different than anything she’s done on camera, with the exception of one scene in How to Rob a Bank, in which she gleefully learns to make a hard U-turn in a car, screaming with the kind of laughter that rings across the pool deck during our conversation. Sawai says that when she’s in Japan, she almost never gets noticed; when she’s in the U.S., people usually ask, “Are you Cate from Monarch: Legacy of Monsters?”, the Apple TV Godzilla series she appeared on two seasons of. “People don’t recognize me, and I think that’s a blessing.”

Sawai recently saw a video of Kravitz and her fiancé Harry Styles, in which Styles was signing autographs for fans and Kravitz was turned the other way, prompting fans to express criticism for the way Kravitz was standing. Sawai thinks about what it would be like for strangers to have opinions about her personal life. “That’s not normal,” she says.

In addition to the blockbuster potential of How to Rob a Bank and Sawai’s A24 debut opposite Austin Butler in Enemies, she is taking on one of the most important characters in Sam Mendes’s Beatles films, playing Yoko Ono to Harris Dickinson’s John Lennon. It’s a role that feels like it was manifested by Sawai. In high school, during a mock interview to prepare for college admissions, Sawai was asked what she wanted to be: an actor, of course. They suggested she think about someone she’d like to play and connect that to something she’d studied in school. Sawai went home and complained to her mother. “I don’t know who to mention,” she said. “Every story that I know in Hollywood is so white.” Her mother said, “What about Yoko Ono?” Ono is a Japanese woman who, at the height of her fame, nearly everyone in the world knew and had an opinion about. It is undeniable that she has been the subject of a tremendous amount of racism and sexism, in addition to being apocryphally credited with breaking up The Beatles. Someone close to Sawai asked why she would want to play a person everyone “hates.”

Sawai and her team were looking into optioning a book about Ono when she learned Mendes was producing a film about the band. After several Zoom conversations, Sawai says Mendes told her he wanted her to read the script before signing on because “he knew how particular I was about her story.” Shortly after our interview, Sawai traveled to London to begin filming—she’s particularly excited to work with Dickinson. “He’s so genuine and authentic,” she says. “He’s the opposite of me, where I’m like, ‘Hi!!’, trying to please everyone.” Sawai, ever the preparer, has become friendly with Lennon and Ono’s son Sean, whom she has been texting with fact-checking questions about Ono’s real feelings about things, because so much of what she said in interviews seemed to be more performance than the kinds of personal revelations Sawai is afraid the world might want from her.

If Kondo and Marks had known Shōgun was going to be such a critical and mass hit that what was supposed to be a limited series got another season, they might have been tempted to alter the arc of Sawai’s character, who (spoiler alert) sacrifices her punctiliously orthodox life to die for an evangelical belief in what is right. Selfishly, they would have loved to keep working with Sawai. But, Kondo says, “I feel like we would’ve been clipping her wings by staying with us.” She believes Sawai, like Mariko, has a greater mission. “There are little girls out there who are looking to her to say, ‘That’s, that’s my North Star,’” Kondo says of a Japanese woman becoming so prominent in Hollywood. “She’s subtly changing the culture, and she’s shifting how we, as women of Asian heritage, see ourselves.”

Sawai is aware that the kind of celebrity Kravitz and Davidson and Ono have experienced is a potential byproduct of the high-profile work that is happening because of her self-belief. “I don’t think fame is a healthy thing for anyone,” Sawai says. Davidson affirms: “Fame sucks,” he says. But he clarifies that the kind of nascent stardom of Sawai is different than his own strain because she’s not in this to become a celebrity; the people who go up to Sawai on the street are doing so because they’ve seen her incredible acting and, possibly, her sobbing winningly at the Emmys while accepting the first of many awards for it. “She’s doing it right,” Davidson says. “And she should be proud. That’s the sweet spot, you know? Being in epic shit and being able to still be a person, and just, you know, once in a while getting a pat on the back from a fan.”

Sawai puzzles through what that kind of success will mean for her. How will she be able to maintain the internal freedom she needs when she’s people pleasing her way through the growing number of fan interactions that are attendant to movie stardom? She knows she can escape to her new home away from L.A., where she finds the constant industry chatter wearying, and go to plays and cry freely. She can travel with her mother, who has, thanks to Sawai, found joy in venturing away from the comfortable structure of her life in Tokyo and seeing the world, even if the elder Sawai still declines to verbalize this happiness—she’ll leave the theatrics to her daughter.

Then, right before we leave the roof, Sawai has an epiphany. She can use the training and rigor that she once found so constraining to protect herself from the celebrity she seems destined to become, Sawai realizes; she can act like the version of herself she once tried mightily to be to preserve her true and tender self. “That’s how I’ll stay sane,” Sawai says in wonder.

Stylist SK Tang | Hairstylist Anh Co Tran | Makeup artist Yukari Obayashi Bush | Manicurist Queenie Nguyen | Set designer Peter Gueracague

Anna Sawai’s red carpet style is rooted in elegant minimalism. The actress gravitates toward polished pieces with streamlined silhouettes and solid shades—and as a presenter at the 77th Primetime Emmy Awards, Sawai adhered to her sartorial playbook.

The Shōgun star arrived to the Emmys red carpet in a stunning silk gown designed by Giorgio Armani Privé. Her black dress championed ladylike dressing with a tulle overlay crafted with crystals and a striking bow set at the shoulder.

Sawai’s stylist, Karla Welch, embellished her sophisticated outfit with a collection of Cartier jewels including a Géométrie and Contrastes ring, and Agrafe earrings made with 18k white gold and diamonds.

On the glam front, the star chose a natural look of pink blush, nude lipstick, and smokey eyeshadow. She kept her hairstyle fairly minimal, opting to wear her strands in loose waves.

This isn’t Sawai’s first Emmys. She made her debut last year, winning the award for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Drama Series and making history as the first Asian woman to do so.

The actress accepted her accolade in a custom red Vera Wang gown that deserved a trophy of its own, boasting a peplum-style silhouette and plunging neckline. Welch completed the look with dazzling Cartier jewels.

To know Sawai’s red carpet wardrobe is to understand that the actress is a method-dressing master. For the 76th Primetime Emmy Awards, she intentionally wore a red gown as a symbolic reference to her Shōgun character, Lady Mariko.

She chose a similar color palette for her 2025 SAG Awards look—a scintillating custom Armani Privé gown adorned with embellishments and deep side slits. While the front of the dress was drenched in a cherry red hue, the back was fully black. Welch coordinated the two-tone outfit with platform heels and glistening jewels.

Sawai has solidified her status as a style icon in Hollywood. As a brand ambassador for both Dior and Cartier, it’s only right to call her a modern-day fashion muse.

Dior has supported Anna Sawai's fashion muse arc since day one. The atelier dressed her for the 2025 Golden Globes and the 2025 Met Gala, eventually promoting her to brand ambassador. With that title comes automatic invites to Dior soirées, including the 57th Street store's grand opening party.

On September 10, the night before Fashion Month officially began, Priyanka Chopra, Kristin Davis, Alexandra Daddario, Ariana Greenblatt, and Sawai all RSVP-ed "yes" to touring Dior's new home in Manhattan. Despite the proximity to New York Fashion Week, the Shōgun star dressed like she was down the street from Dior's Avenue Montaigne home.

Sawai embodied posh minimalism in a white sheath dress and a Lady Dior handbag. Though the square, top-handle model debuted in 1994 (and quickly became a favorite of the late Princess Diana), Sawai carried a version that emanates modern-day appeal. She chose a black model in all its quilted glory, decorated with gold hardware and monogrammed charms. It acted as her plus-one while she admired architect Peter Marino's work on the new store.

As far as I know, the evening didn't call for a specific dress code. The only requirement? A Lady Dior bag. Almost every A-lister followed Sawai's lead with a Lady Dior in tow. Priyanka Chopra came straight from the Ralph Lauren Spring 2026 show, swapping her ombré suit for Dior by Anderson.

Sawai's micro-mini bag complemented Chopra's baby blue sweater and trousers, too. It spotlighted fall's rising plaid trend, also co-signed by Calvin Klein, Burberry, and Vivienne Westwood's Fall 2025 lines. A satin bow atop her thick neckline mirrored motifs seen on Dior Men's Spring 2026 runway.

Even Kristin Davis got the memo. The Sex and the City alum channeled Charlotte in a blazer wrap dress, a white button-down, and the Lady D-Joy. The black top-handle style is nearly identical to the Lady Dior, except with an elongated, east-west body. Its handle sparkled with the same 18-carat gold bag charms.

The Lady Dior has been a constant since its introduction three decades ago, arriving in a veritable rainbow of shades and sizes. Its list of famous fans stretches from Hollywood stars like Jennifer Lopez and Anya Taylor-Joy to Meghan, Duchess of Sussex. Considering Anna Sawai and stylist Karla Welch's long history with Dior, we'll hope to see the actress and her favorite bag once again in the Paris front row next month.

Shop Lady Diors Inspired by Anna Sawai

Editor's note: This post has been updated to reflect the Lady Dior bag's introduction year. It has not been altered under Dior's current creative director, Jonathan Anderson.

When Dior announced its April 15 Pre-Fall 2025 show would take place outside the To-Ji Temple in Kyoto, Japan, I imagined guests like Anna Sawai would take the setting and the season to heart. Cherry blossoms would be in full bloom, and guests would channel the soft petals in shades of blush pink and red (while also paying homage to the host's house codes, of course). Instead, Sawai and her stylist, Karla Welch, swerved in a different direction that made avowed minimalists like me feel so validated.

The Emmy- and Golden Globe-winner walked Dior's wood-paneled step-and-repeat in my definition of the best spring work outfit. She layered a gray blouse with extra-wide sleeves over a matching charcoal skirt, with a thick belt cinching her top in the middle. Pointed toe heels peeked out from beneath the hem of her skirt, coordinating with a logo-embossed, top-handle Dior bag.

Anna Sawai's skirt suit struck a chord in my neutral-loving, suit-collecting heart. She didn't need a pastel spring color trend or a seasonal floral to ace the dress code; a sculptural short sleeve and slitted skirt got the job done. I, for one, would easily copy and paste this matching set to Marie Claire's headquarters (or fashion week in September).

Even without spring-coded cues, the Shogun star still channeled the message of creative director Maria Grazia Chiuri's Pre-Fall runway. Interpretations of the traditional Japanese kimono topped several of the looks, which Sawai's jacket also referenced. They're nods to Monsieur Christian Dior's longstanding appreciation of and reverence for Japanese design, tracing all the way back to the designer's first take on a kimono jacket released in 1957. He followed up that original piece with three custom pieces for Princess Michiko, a future empress of Japan, in 1959, among other projects. In the present, Grazia Chiuri tapped the kimono as a foundational piece to explore the relationship between a garment and a body wearing it through the collection.

Famed houses like Dior have been essential to Anna Sawai's ascent since landing the role of Mariko in FX's breakout drama. Early in her awards season campaigning, Karla Welch dressed her in custom pieces by Vera Wang and Louis Vuitton. As she racked up gold statues for her performance, she branched out to Carolina Herrera, Armani Privé, and eventually, Dior—becoming an official face of the house in February.

No matter which designer she's wearing—or show she's attending—Anna Sawai tries to imbue as much of her personal style into the house's signature aesthetic as she can. She told me as much while getting ready for her first appearance at Chanel Haute Couture last summer. "I felt like going to these kind of shows, I wanted to at least feel grounded and be my own self," she said. The example she set with her latest Dior skirt suit is one I can't wait to copy.

After earning red carpet gold all awards season long in the likes of Armani Privé (at the SAG Awards) and Dior (at the Golden Globes), Anna Sawai is coming for her street style crown with help from Coach's next fall it-bag.

Sawai was spotted just days ahead of another major ceremony, the 2025 Oscars, strolling through Los Angeles on Feb. 28 in an eternal business casual uniform: a black blazer and straight-leg jeans. She paired her base T-shirt underneath to pointed-toe pumps, and strung a simple gold pendant necklace around her neck. But her casual Friday building blocks came with New York Fashion Week's breakout alternative to the classic leather work tote.

Sawai carried Coach's Empire 34 Carry-All, a style that made waves the minute it debuted on the label's Park Avenue Armory runway at the start of Fashion Month. The oblong style features two top-handles, a roomy interior compartment, and heaps of insider praise within minutes of its unveiling.

On the runway, each Empire bag was precisely matched to a coat or sweater in the same leather shade. Instead of letting Sawai's blend into her layers, the Shogun star juxtaposed her lighter camel bag against her black blazer. (The better to see she's carrying a sold-out style.)

Coach has minted It-bag after It-bag in the past two years, churning out celebrity-favorites like Bella Hadid's spacious Brooklyn and Olivia Rodrigo's re-editioned Ergo bag in rapid succession. Anna Sawai is the first star to carry Coach's latest style outside of the label's front rows and campaigns, but history has shown she won't be the last.

Anna Sawai has hit red carpet after red carpet this awards season in striking red gowns: a tribute, she revealed at the 2025 SAG Awards, to her breakout Shogun character Lady Mariko. Now that the series' eligible nominations have all been presented (and won), the star is ready to grow in a new style direction.

Sawai's next red carpet era started at Vanity Fair and Instagram's Vanities: a Night for Young Hollywood Party on Feb. 26. Fresh off her SAG win for "Best Female Actor in a Drama Series," stylist Karla Welch steered Sawai toward an off-the-shoulder Carolina Herrera dress. Up top, a long-sleeve knit created the effect of a crop top, with a slash baring Sawai's stomach below the bandage bodice. Then, her tight-fitting silhouette bloomed into a sculptural satin skirt that resembled a gothic rose. (Symbolic, for an actor whose career is likely opening up after securing her Emmy, Golden Globe, and now SAG trophies.)

Sawai's dress hails from Carolina Herrera's Fall 2025 collection, debuted by creative director Wes Gordon at New York Fashion Week earlier this month. In show notes, Gordon described the floral-heavy pieces as "new seeds" in the garden of his shopper's wardrobe. 3-D florals like the one on Sawai's skirt appeared across sculpted tops and floor-length dresses, all in rich shades from burgundy to deep black. "This collection is about exploring the idea of ephemeral beauty—that single elusive moment where everything comes into focus, where everything is perfect in the garden," Gordon said.

If Sawai and Welch picked this dress from the bunch for its meaning, it wouldn't be the first time they made a symbolic choice on the red carpet. From her gilded Armani Privé SAG gown to her back-to-back red dresses at the Emmys, Sawai has consistently hewed to a blood-toned palette representing her Shogun character's journey on the show. (Elaborating further would be a spoiler for anyone who hasn't seen the winningest drama series of the past year.)

There was only one touch of red in Sawai's Feb. 26 outfit: the soles of her Christian Louboutin heels. The glittering pointed-toe pumps were crafted from mesh set with tiny crystals, like stardust had been sprinkled in her path to the red carpet. With the year she's had, it doesn't sound too far-fetched.

2024 was Anna Sawai's year. From becoming the first Asian performer to win Best Lead Actress in a Drama Series at the Emmys to cementing her status as a fashion darling in Louis Vuitton and Chanel couture, the Japanese performer was the year's undeniable breakout star. Given Sawai's 2025 Golden Globes red carpet look, the Shōgun actress is staking a claim that the New Year is hers, too.

The actress arrived at the 82nd annual Golden Globes in a bright white custom Dior two-piece featuring a sleeveless peplum-style top and column skirt. She accessorized her red carpet look in a similar minimal style: with one four-stranded silver chain choker necklace and a single, very sparkly diamond ring, both archival Cartier pieces.

At the top of the Golden Globe's best-dressed list, Sawai was styled by the illustrious celebrity stylist Karla Welch, whose client roster also includes Kristen Wiig, Sarah Paulson, Olivia Wilde, and Greta Gerwig. Sawai's 2025 2025 Golden Globes red carpet look is another phenomenal moment to add to her ever-growing style file.

Sawai is nominated for Best Performance by a Female Actor in a Television Series, Drama at the 2025 Golden Globe Awards for her role as Toda Mariko in FX's Shōgun. She's up against fellow actresses Kathy Bates (Matlock), Emma D’Arcy (House of the Dragon), Maya Erskine (Mr. and Mrs. Smith), Keira Knightley (Black Doves) and Keri Russell (The Diplomat).

The Japanese actress's peplum look from tonight's awards is reminiscent of the spectacular, fit-and-flare gown Sawai wore on the 2024 Emmy's red carpet. She chose a plunging and peplum custom Vera Wang gown in a bright fiery red-orange. Her statement dress featured a ruffle situated affixed below her hips, with a larger ruffle cascading from underneath and creating a mermaid-like look. She accessorized her cherry-colored gown with sparkling Cartier jewelry.

Later that evening, Sawai changed into a custom Louis Vuitton gown for the 2024 Emmys after-party. In a strikingly similar shade of red, the star's cherry-colored silk faille gown featured a sleeveless, scoop neck bodice and gathered column skirt.

In an interview with Marie Claire, Sawai previously expressed the enormous impact her character Toda Mariko had on both herself and, hopefully, the world at large: "I will carry Mariko with me for the rest of my life because really she is that powerful. She has that strength. I just hope that people are able to really reflect on their lives and how they value it and how they want to live it."

Like her formidable character in the FX series, Sawai herself has "that strength," both as an actress and red carpet power player with a penchant for peplum tops and couture.

Anna Sawai celebrated her first-ever Emmy win by changing into another stunning look for an after-party hosted by the Walt Disney Company. The Shogun star posed with her gleaming award wearing a custom Louis Vuitton red silk faille gown with a tank top and gathered column skirt. She accessorized the waist-accentuating design with black leather platform sandals and diamond drop earrings.

Sawai's big win for her work on Shogun represented more than a personal first. It marked a historic victory for her as the first actress of Asian descent to win in the lead actress in a drama series category at the Emmys. Sawai became a breakout star on the FX period drama for portraying Mariko, an honor-driven noblewoman living in 1600s-era Japan.

"I was crying before my name was announced," the actor said in her emotional Emmys acceptance speech. "I'm a mess today."

She concluded by dedicating her win to her mother and "all the women who expect nothing and continue to be an example for everyone."

Earlier in the evening, Sawai made the best-dressed list in a mermaid-style gown in a similar shade of fiery orange-red to walk the 2024 Emmys red carpet. Like a true fashion darling, she worked with stylist Karla Welch—whose other actor clients include Kristen Wiig, Sarah Paulson, Olivia Wilde, and Greta Gerwig—to commission the custom design from Chinese-American designer Vera Wang. The pair accessorized the peplum dress with Cartier jewels. Per E! correspondent Zanna Roberts Rassi, who hosted the network's Live From The Red Carpet pre-show, Welch called Sawai's look the "dress of her dreams."

Anna Sawai's back-to-back dresses aren't the only places where a red-hot palette is gaining steam. Dopamine-inducing bright red originally rose to prominence during the Spring 2022 and Fall 2023 seasons when designers like Ferragamo, Stella McCartney, Carolina Herrera, and Tibi sent it down the runway in the form of dresses, jackets, shoes, sweaters, tights, and scarves. Later, an even riper, black cherry version of the shade reappeared on the Spring 2024 runways at the likes of Gucci, Valentino, and Hermès.

Needless to say, with Sawai and Welch backing the trend twice in a single night, it's full steam ahead on this punchy shade for the foreseeable future.

Anna Sawai's breakout performance as Mariko made millions of Shōgun viewers weep. At the 2024 Emmys, she continued to provoke tears and cried herself as she made history at the award show.

The Japanese actress, who became the first Asian performer to win the award for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Drama Series, was already emotional as she took to the stage and then gave one of the most heartfelt speeches of the night.

"I was crying before my name was announced. I'm a mess today," she began. "Thank you to The Academy for naming me alongside my fellow nominees whose work I grew up watching and love."

She continued by showing her gratitude to the team behind the hit period piece based on the 1975 novel by James Clavell. "Thank you to John Landgraf and the whole FX team for believing in our story. Thank you, Justin [Marks] and Rachel [Kondo] for believing in me and giving me this role of a lifetime. Thank you to every single one of the crew and cast led by [Hiroyuki Sanada]—Hiro’s over there," she said while gesturing to her costar who also took home an award for his performance. "He really has open doors and continues to open doors for people like me. Thank you so much. Cosmo [Jarvis], you are the most honest and truthful and no BS actor I know and you made me give my 120 percent."

She concluded her speech with a tearful shout-out to her loved ones, and the women who inspire her.

"Lastly, thank you to my team and thank you to my family. Mom, I love you. You are the reason I'm here. You showed me stoicism and that's how I was able to portray Mariko," said the star. "This is to all the women who expect nothing and continue to be an example for everyone. Thank you so much."

Earlier in the evening, Sawai arrived at the 2024 Emmys in the "dress of her dreams," a bright-red strapless gown custom-made by Vera Wang. She opted for a natural makeup look topped off with red blush, paired with an elegant low bun.

Shōgun had already made Emmys history before tonight's primetime ceremony began; last weekend, the FX show picked up 14 wins at the Creative Arts Emmys, becoming the most honored single season of television in the awards' 76 years. The show won several more honors at the Primetime Emmys, most notably for lead performers in the drama category for both Sawai and Hiroyuki Sanada, as well as Outstanding Drama Series.

“[Shōgun] was an East-meets-West dream project, with respect,” Sanada said during his acceptance speech. “Shōgun taught me that when people work together, we can make a miracle. We can create a better future together. Thank you so much!”

I have never attended couture fashion week as a guest of Chanel. If I had to guess what it feels like to get a camellia-topped invitation for the first time, get dressed by the house, and sit feet away from the Fall 2024 collection as it glides by, I can imagine it's an opulent moment. Anna Sawai, star of FX's Shogun, similarly tells me she wasn't sure what to expect from her first Chanel couture show on Tuesday. Preparing to ascend the steps at Paris's Palais Garnier, home of the opera and this season's runway, Sawai did know how she wanted to dress the part.

"I was able to try on very different outfits and it was hard to choose because it really was so different," Sawai tells me a few hours after her front row debut. She and stylist Karla Welch were caught between two routes headed in aesthetically opposing directions: one sweet and soft look, one edgy and all-leather.

In the end, Sawai took the road with less excess: a leather waistcoat and coordinating Bermuda shorts, straight from Chanel's Cruise 2024/25 collection that debuted earlier this spring. It was the closest, Sawai says, to how she really dresses. "I felt like going to these kind of shows, I wanted to at least feel grounded and be my own self."

Bringing the rest of the look together was a lesson in juxtaposition. Sawai chose pointed-toe heels to up the elegance factor of her matching set's biker-chic energy. "And for my hair and makeup, we wanted to kind of balance it out," she explains.

With makeup artist Yumi Mori and hairstylist Jennifer Yepez, Sawai leaned into classics: a fresh makeup look with rosy, glowing pink blush, a sleek bun with pieces pulled out to frame her face. And even then, the actress wanted to incorporate another contrasting element: "We also topped it off with a beautiful Chanel ribbon, which I think is like a cherry on top."

Once Sawai made it to her seat, she wasn't necessarily swept away by the hanging chandeliers and velvet-lined steps at the opera house. Her eye went straight to the more understated pieces amid the over-the-top lineup.

When I ask if there's a look she'd wear off the runway, Sawai speaks directly to my New York City uniform dresser heart. "They had some nice black looks and I am a pretty simple girl," she laughs. A dress layered with chandelier beads and embroidery—plus a mesh skirt—spoke to her for "a fancy, fancy dinner."

Guests who've filed into the same seats and watched the same models for season after season can maybe feel jaded by the whole affair. Seeing it for the first time, Sawai soaked in the details that might be overlooked in a recap Instagram story.

"I wasn't expecting it to be such a theatrical experience," she says. She paid close attention to not just the clothes, but the way they were presented. "We heard the footsteps of the models. I thought it was just being played as a tape, but there was actually a guy holding the mic at her footsteps." Turning her focus to a beaded belt became a runway ASMR exercise: "You can hear them hitting each other and making this very high toned beautiful ring."

Maybe Sawai was looking for those details so closely because she'd seen them in progress just a day before—a sneak-peek not every showgoer gets. Ahead of the runway, she also went to visit artisans at the Chanel atelier, hard at work on the final feathers, beads, and camellia flowers involved in each look.

"I learned how much time it takes and how many people really it takes to create like one flower—and to see that all come together and form into this beautiful look," Sawai says. "The whole experience itself was just like a new and very, very opulent experience for me and the appreciation for all that goes into it is so important, too."

For some guests, today's show is the first and last time onlookers will see them in their best tweeds and collarless jackets—at least until the following season's runway. Sawai's next Chanel moment will come a little earlier. In the second season of Apple TV's Pachinko, which premieres this August, the actress suits up as the high-powered lawyer Naomi in vintage suits from the house.

The way Sawai describes it, dressing for an intergenerational period drama isn't all that different from dressing for a present-day front row. When her onscreen persona wears Chanel, she's tapping into her power. "My character is a lady in the eighties who is having to face masculinity in her company," she explains. "Gabrielle Chanel fought for the liberation of women, and making them comfortable."

And while Sawai may be more familiar with walking onto a prestige TV set than walking up the steps to a couture show, she still gets the same feeling where her wardrobe is involved: "I feel so lucky that I was able to wear a Chanel suit on that, too." Once again, her clothes keep her grounded.

Shop Anna Sawai's Chanel Couture Beauty Look

Shōgun, FX's epic series based on the book of the same name by James Clavell, premiered on February 27, 2024, and established itself as one of the year's Game of Thrones-level television events. It follows the fictional story of Lord Yoshii Toranaga (Hiroyuki Sanada), a 17th-century Japanese lord who is pulled into a battle of wits as his enemies conspire to take away his power and have him killed. If he dies, all his allies will likely be executed with him, including British sailor John Blackthorne (Cosmo Jarvis) and translator Toda Mariko (Anna Sawai).

Over its run, the Japanese series became FX's most-watched show ever and eventually an awards season favorite. Although the finale in April 2024 brought the stories of Toranaga, Mariko, and Blackthorne to an end, fans were hoping for any chance that the series's gorgeous, brutal, intricate depiction of 1600s Japan could return. As it turns out, with the show's success, FX was also not ready to let go of its new mega-hit series. Below, here's what we know about the future of Shōgun.

What happens at the end of 'Shōgun?'

Shōgun followed the looming war between Toranaga and his vassal lords and Ishido Kazunari (Takehiro Hira) and Ochiba-no-kata (Fumi Nikaido), mother of the country's Heir—and by the end of the finale, all of the season's big questions were answered.

Following Mariko's sacrifice at Osaka Castle in the penultimate episode, the other members of the Council of Regents turn against Ishido. He also loses Ochiba, who was a childhood friend of Mariko, and becomes enraged that he had her killed. Because of that, Ochiba sends a secret note to Toranaga promising that her son's military will not join Ishido's at war. Without the backing of the Heir, the rest of the Council is expected to turn against Ishido, and Toranaga will easily win the battle and become the de facto leader of Japan.

Meanwhile, Blackthorne is utterly devastated by Mariko's death. He's allowed to return to Toranaga in Edo, but he learns that Mariko made a deal with the Portuguese Catholics. Instead of killing Blackthorne, they torch his ship—leaving him with close to nothing, as now both Mariko and his ship are gone, as well as his consort Fuji (Moeka Hoshi), who announces that she's going to become a nun.

However, when Blackthorne goes to Toranaga to ask for permission to kill himself, the bushō has other plans: He tells him to rebuild his ship and resume his role as captain of Toranaga's war fleet.

Then, in the final scene when Toranaga lays out his plan to the soon-to-be-executed Yabushige (Tadanobu Asano), the warlord reveals that he was the one to burn Blackthorne's ship, at Mariko's request. Toranaga also admits that he kept the anjin around just because he amused him.

As the 1980 adaptation of Shōgun centered Blackthorne's character so much so that the Japanese dialogue wasn't translated, it's a nice note to end on, illustrating how much the Englishman was a relative non-factor.

Will there be a 'Shōgun' season 2?

Shōgun's second season is officially happening. After months of development buzz, FX announced on April 30, 2025, that the writers' room for season 2 had ended, with production expected to begin in January 2026. In addition to Hiroyuki Sanada, who signed on to return to the series in May 2024, Cosmo Jarvis will also reprise his role as Anjin, John Blackthorne. Because season 1 adapted the entirety of Clavell's novel, season 2 will be "a wholly original new chapter."

Despite originally being billed as a miniseries, Shōgun's immense success made FX reconsider the show's fate. On May 16, 2024, the network announced that FX and Hulu were interested in developing not one but two additional seasons of the period drama, with season 1 co-creators Justin Marks and Rachel Kondo, executive producer Michaela Clavell, and star and producer Hiroyuki Sanada on board. Sanada has since been elevated to executive producer, while Jarvis will serve as a co-executive producer.

What will 'Shōgun' season 2 be about?

As Shōgun prepared to move into production on season 2, FX offered more details of what fans can expect. As reported by Variety, an official logline has been released: Season 2 is "set 10 years after the events of the first season and continues the historically-inspired saga of these two men from different worlds whose fates are inextricably entwined."

It's hard to guess where Shōgun season 2 will go. However, based on the logline, some clues could be found in the real-life history that inspired the series. Shōgun technically ends before we see Toranaga and Ishido on the battlefield, though the finale does show the moment before the fight when Ishido learns that Ochiba has betrayed him. As for the true history, the Battle of Sekigahara took place on October 21, 1600, and was won by Toranaga's real-life counterpart, Tokugawa Ieyasu. The fighting lasted six hours, with Tokugawa winning after some other powerful lords switched to his side.

According to the USC Pacific Asia Museum, Tokugawa's victory ended over 200 years of civil war and began the peaceful Edo period. The Tokugawa shogunate ruled over Japan for the next 250 years from the relocated capital of Edo, modern-day Tokyo. Assuming both the Shōgun novel and miniseries follow this path, Toranaga succeeded in bringing forth "a nation without wars" and "an era of great peace."

Who in the 'Shōgun' cast will return for season 2?

It's been confirmed since season 2 was officially ordered that Hiroyuki Sanada and Cosmo Jarvis would be reprising their leading roles as Lord Yoshii Toranaga and John Blackthorne. Now, however, we have an idea of the rest of the ensemble.

In November 2025, Variety reported Fumi Nikaidô (Ochiba), Shinnosuke Abe (Buntaro), Hiroto Kanai (Omi), Yoriko Dôguchi (Kiri), Tommy Bastow (Father Martin Alvito), Yuko Miyamoto (Gin), Eita Okuno (Saeki), and Yuka Kouri (Kiku) will all return.

Anna Sawai will notably not be back. However, it's been known for some time that Mariko likely wouldn't be in season 2, given how her story concludes by the end of season 1. Sawai herself spoke to Marie Claire about this in a 2024 interview, saying, "I love Mariko so much that if there was more that I could explore, I would do it in a heartbeat...But I think that her story is now complete, and I don't know if anyone should be trying to like touch that. It's kind of perfect the way it ended."

Who are the new cast members in 'Shōgun' season 2?

While Mariko won't grace our screens again, several newcomers will. Details of their characters have been kept under wraps, but Variety announced in November 2025 that season 2 will see additions of Asami Mizukawa as Aya, Masataka Kubota as Hyūga, Sho Kaneta as Hidenobu, Takaaki Enoki as Lord Ito, and Jun Kunimura as Gōda.

The following week, another exciting casting announcement was made. According to The Hollywood Reporter, Ren Meguro—best known as a J-pop idol and member of the group Snow Man, as well as acting roles in the TV show Trillion Games and its movie spinoff, As Long as We Both Shall Live, and Silent—is joining the cast. He's set to play Kazutada, though additional details are scarce.

The pop star/actor shared a statement about his casting. "I am incredibly honored to join the cast of Shōgun season 2," Meguro said in a statement, per THR. "When I streamed Shōgun on Disney+ last year, I was profoundly moved by the series’ unique and grand portrayal of Japan, which felt different from past portrayals. As a Japanese person, I felt a compelling urge to be part of this groundbreaking production. I started learning more about the production team, exploring Hiroyuki Sanada’s vision and his long-standing dedication, and reading various articles about Shōgun. This year, the opportunity to audition came my way. I submitted my footage and participated in auditions. Now, my dream has become a reality, and it truly felt like a dream come true. For the past year, I have constantly envisioned myself on the set of Shōgun, bringing my character to life. I am committed to honoring the legacy that so many have built before me and to carefully shaping the role entrusted to me in this remarkable series. I can’t wait for everyone to see the release of Shōgun season 2 and to share in this incredible journey with us. Thank you and please look forward to Shōgun season 2.”

Throughout 2026, casting news continued to roll out. Most recently, Grey's Anatomy alum Rick Kumazawa was confirmed by Deadline to join the ensemble as Gaspar in July 2026. Variety also reported in the spring that Risei Kukihara will play Gabriel, Ryô Satô will play Rin, Seishiro Nishida will join as Jōshin, Mantaro Koichi will portray Saitō, and Takashi Yamaguchi has a role as Kanō. For now, character descriptions have been kept under wraps.

When will 'Shōgun' season 2 be released?

While season 2 is in the works, it's still hard to say when the show will be back on the air. THR reported in late 2025 that filming was set to begin in January 2026. However, FX revealed it seemingly began sometime in the spring when it shared a video from set on its social media accounts in April. It hasn't been announced when filming will wrap, but it may be a long shoot.

We can look back at season 1's timeline for an idea; the 10-episode run was filmed from September 2021 to June 2022, before premiering in February 2024. Hopefully FX will fast-track post-production for such a highly anticipated show, but fans will still likely wait a while for the new season to reach our screens. If we had to guess, the show may not return until late 2027.