Tokyo Vice producers J.T.
Rogers and Alan Poul break down the season 2 finale and reveal their plans for season 3.
This article contains spoilers forTOKYO VICEseason 2.
In an exclusive interview withDen of Geek,Tokyo Vicecreator, showrunner, and executive producer J.T.
How was it structuring season 2 in this way?
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J.T.
Rogers:It took a lot of work.
[laughs] It took a lot of writing, not to be flippant.
How was it bringing back the Chihara-kai from near-annihilation and having Tozawa handled this way?
Rogers:You touched on two great things that we were trying to keep in mind.
Alan, youve been working on Japanese crime dramas since at leastBlack Rain.
Poul:One of the charmed aspects of this production is, from J.T.
to our folks at Max, our entire Japanese team, everybody was equally invested in the authenticity.
Season 1 was filmed at the height of COVID, including COVID restrictions in Japan.
We could only get it when it was closed down.
The other thing is the city opened up to us for season 2.
For season 1, they were very skeptical and rightfully so.
Everybody on the crew and in the cast was taking an antigen [test] every day.
You couldnt show up for work without registering your antigen test results into a database.
Rogers:Those were relaxed right at the very end of our 10-month shoot.
Rogers:It would be disingenuous to say I wasnt very well-versed inThe Godfatherwith you.
I dont think any crime show or movie consciously or unconsciously is not going to touch-tone that.
Hes a very complicated person and not a thug, not that anyone is on the show.
What was it about having Jake check in on his family at the end of Act II this season?
Thats a little Easter egg because thats what we wanted people to see.
We wanted Jake to go home and realize Oh, Ive grown up a bit.
Theyre not as bad as I remember.
That thing that happens to so many young men especially.
It just naturally builds itself out as youre writing it.
It was definitely planned from the beginning.
How was it building in those visual cues and clues?
Rogers:It was building and layering and Alan is such a great second pair of eyes.
I have him when its supposedly finished and go Heres the script.
What do you think?
What isnt clear or do you think could be clearer?
Thats the great thing about television, that its a group effort.
As we develop, as we plan, as we shoot, these things come up.
Those are the kinds of things that develop organically as youre creating the visual structure of the show.
With the downfall of Tozawa, there are so many feints and misdirects.
We learn he gets the illegal organ transplant in America, but hes also an FBI informant.
Ultimately, its his wife Kazuko that takes him down.
Rogers:It was really tricky and also a lot of fun.
You start with your finished scripts, and hopefully youre able to do that in seasons 1 and 2.
But I knew it would be Kazuko all along when I started season 2.
I knew she would send in the tape and it was about how to organically reveal that.
Its very hard to do in the vacuum of shooting.
Do you have places that you want to take the story and characters next for a possible season 3?
Rogers:I do!
All along, I envisioned a two-season story.
Thats why I asked, and cursed myself for asking, 10, as opposed to eight, episodes.
Wed love to make more.
Well find out, and well see.
Mistakes are made that are terrible, but not made because theyre foolish.
She is one of the characters that has to go through that.
Poul:Seeing her hit rock bottom in the first episode is jarring because shes always had it together.
That, to me, is whats so fascinating about her journey.
Tokyo Viceis available to stream on Max.
