‘Shōgun’s Anna Sawai Pours Cold Water On Rumored Casting As Yoko Ono In Sam Mendes’ Beatles Movies – SAG Awards Backstage

Anna Sawai has responded to rumors that have her pegged to play Yoko Ono in the upcoming set of Beatles films from director Sam Mendes.

“I think a rumor is just a rumor,” the actress said backstage at the SAG Awards, following her latest big award win for her breakout role in FX’s Shōgun.

In discussing her next professional steps, Sawai told Deadline, “I’m still trying to figure out what I want to do, so I’m reading a lot of scripts. I’m also doing a lot of meetings and I just want to make sure that what I’m choosing is the right thing. So it might take time for me to find the right project, but I’m trying to be selective so that I can surprise everyone who’s going to watch it.”

We were first to report on the four Beatles movies Mendes is directing for Sony in February 2024. While each will focus on a different member of the iconic band, not much else about the projects is known at this point.

Little has been officially confirmed in the way of casting here, though it’s expected that Paul Mescal will play Paul McCartney, with Barry Keoghan as Ringo Starr, Joseph Quinn as George Harrison, and Harris Dickinson as John Lennon. Rumors of Sawai playing Lennon’s musicia wife Ono began circulating earlier this month. This marks the first time that The Beatles and Apple Corps Ltd. have authorized the use of the band members’ life stories and music in scripted films. The Mendes films are slated for a 2027 release and will be a collaboration between Sony Pictures Entertainment and Mendes’s Neal Street Productions.

A highly lauded adaptation of the novel from James Clavell, which premiered last February 2024, Shōgun is set in 17th-century Japan and follows English maritime pilot John Blackthorne (Cosmo Jarvis) as he becomes entangled in the political intrigues of feudal Japan after being shipwrecked. Also a SAG Award winner tonight, Hiroyuki Sanada plays powerful warlord, Lord Yoshii Toranaga, with Sawai as Toda Mariko, an intelligent, highborn woman and Catholic convert who serves as a translator between Toranaga and Blackthorne.

Prior to tonight, Sawai’s Shōgun turn earned her an Emmy for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Drama Series, which made her the first actress of Asian descent to win in that category, as well as a Golden Globe for Best Actress in a TV Drama.