Tokyo Vice season 2 release updates and everything we know so far

Based on the 2009 memoir of the same name by Jake Adelstein, Tokyo Vice premiered on Max in 2022 and we’ve all been patiently waiting for new episodes since season 1 concluded. The thrilling series takes place in 1999 and follows an American journalist who travels to Tokyo, Japan in hopes of working for a well-regarded newspaper. As he gets more and more familiar with the culture and the organized crime going on, he uncovers dark secrets about the city.

The first season of the crime drama received positive reviews, and it was a no-brainer for Max to renew the show for another go.

It’s been well over a year since Max renewed Tokyo Vice for a second season, so fans are wondering how long they’ll have to wait to see it. The good news is we finally have a release window in sight! Tokyo Vice season 2 is officially coming to Max in 2024. Let’s break down what else we know about the next installment so far.

The first season of Tokyo Vice aired its finale at the end of April 2022, and less than two months later Max announced a second season was greenlit. In a press release, the Head of Original Content at Max, Sarah Aubrey, shared: “We could not be more excited to bring the passionate fans of the show another season to continue this intriguing and suspenseful crime story set in one of the most vibrant and beautiful cities in the world.”

The creator of the show, J.T. Rogers, echoed Aubrey’s excitement and teased that “twists and turns in the tale to come.” Hiroto Katagiri actor Ken Watanabe took to Instagram to share the renewal news at the time, thanking the fans for watching.

Tokyo Vice returns in the first half of 2024

HBO held a press conference on Thursday, Nov. 2, in which CEO and chairman Casey Bloys talked about the network’s upcoming slate of shows. Because of the strikes, many highly-anticipated series will be returning later than we had hoped, including Euphoria and The White Lotus. However, 2024 will still be a great year for HBO because we got confirmation that Tokyo Vice season 2 will premiere in the first half of 2024, as reported by TV Line.

Journalist Meghan O’Keefe who attended the press conference took to Twitter to share her notes from the event, which lists Tokyo Vice‘s return as a spring 2024 release. This release window has not been publicly announced by HBO, but it’s likely true. We cannot wait to start getting the first looks from the new season!

Season 2 cast

At the time of this writing, we’re expecting the following cast members to return:

• Ansel Elgort as Jake Adelstein
• Ken Watanabe as Hiroto Katagiri
• Rachel Keller as Samantha Porter
• Rinko Kikuchi as Emi Maruyama
• Shun Sugata as Hitoshi Ishida
• Takaki Uda as “Trendy” Kurihira
• Kosuke Tanaka as “Tintin” Shinohara

We’re still waiting for Max to begin promoting Tokyo Vice season 2 so we can get an official synopsis and cast list, so we’ll add that in here once we get it.

In March 2023, we got exciting news in the form of a cast addition, with Deadline reporting that actor Soji Arai will play a “substantial role” in Tokyo Vice season 2. He’s set to play a character named Shingo; check out the full description for the new addition here:

"A single parent with a young son, Shingo is now an editor at a prestigious Tokyo weekly. An excellent journalist, he and Emi share a passion for the work. But as the season rolls on, their work and family lives come into conflict and Shingo and Emi are forced to make hard choices about what they value most in their lives."

After the explosive season 1 finale, fans are also wondering if a few cast members will be back in season 2, namely the ones whose characters seemingly met their fate.

So which characters are we talking about? Well, Polina and Sato are the two who definitely died in Tokyo Vice season 1, and we’re not expecting the actors who portray them, Ella Rumpf and Shō Kasamatsu, to return in season 2. That said, we’re not sure if Hideaki Itō will reprise his role as Jin Miyamoto. The vice detective’s fate is up in the air after the season 1 finale, as we assume he was going to be killed but we didn’t see it happen.

Miyamoto’s fate is definitely one of the biggest questions we have going into Tokyo Vice season 2, and we likely won’t find out what happened to him until the next installment begins.

Season 2 completed filming around June 2023

Updates about Tokyo Vice season 2 have been pretty scarce leading up to the recent HBO press conference, however, the good news was that we already knew they’d completed filming. The Hollywood Reporter confirmed in an article from Oct. 2022 that production was set to begin Nov. 2022, with executive producer/co-director Alan Poul explaining to the publication how difficult it is to film in Tokyo.

In June 2023, actor Ansel Elgort took to Instagram to share with his followers that he was headed back home from Japan after presumably wrapping on the second season.

“Bye bye Japan, sayonara さよならI’m sad to be leaving but also happy to go back home 🙂 I was starting to feel like Japan was my home too tho,” Elgort wrote in his caption alongside a series of photos.

It doesn’t look like the strikes impacted Tokyo Vice

In case you haven’t been keeping up with the latest entertainment industry news, actors in the United States are currently on strike. The Writers Guild of America (WGA) went on strike against the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers (AMPTP) in May, but fortunately, they came to an agreement in September and their strike is over. But in July, the Screen Actors Guild – American Federation of Television and Radio Artists (SAG-AFTRA) faced the same dilemma and began striking, and that one is still going on as of the time of this writing.

Many productions have been put on pause and titles are being pushed back, but it doesn’t look like that was the case for Tokyo Vice season 2. Though this isn’t confirmed, the show might’ve been under a different contract because they filmed in Japan.

Now that filming for Tokyo Vice season 2 is completed, likely all that’s left at the stage is post-production. Though the actors’ strike could potentially affect the promotion of the second season, the release is seemingly not impacted.

Where to stream season 1

If you’re looking to do a rewatch of the first season before the second premieres, look no further than Max. Tokyo Vice season 1 is exclusively streaming on Max in the United States. If you’re not subscribed to the Warner Bros. streaming service, you can still access the show with other platforms. Here’s the full list of how to watch:

• Max
• Hulu with their Max add-on
• YouTube TV with their Max add-on
• Amazon Prime Video with their Max add-on

Stay tuned with us at Hidden Remote for all the latest updates on Tokyo Vice season 2!