WARNING: The following contains spoilers for Yasuke, now streaming on Netflix.
Netflix's Yasuke takes the legendary Black samurai, voiced by LaKeith Stanfield, on quite a journey of redemption. In Season 1, Yasuke protects a young girl, Saki, from a supernatural Daimyo that wants to harness the child's godlike powers. Along the way, he partners with the mystical soldier, Morisuke, as well as his other colleagues and with Saki's help, defeats a witch. But that doesn't have to be the end of the story. Following he and the girl returning to their village at the season's end, key threads are left hanging that could set up a Season 2.
Yasuke's Training of Ichiro
By the end of Season 1, Yasuke is eager to stay in the village as the people no longer see him and Saki as outcasts. In fact, Saki's been taken in by her best friend, Ichiro's parents, and the samurai has agreed to train the young boy -- a fan of his -- after spotting his potential. Season 2 can look at Yasuke anointing Ichiro as his successor in case he dies or if the village needs two of them to safeguard the citizens.
Yasuke already comes off as a father to Saki in the first season, so it'd fit this dynamic, as well as his character arc as someone reborn who is willing to finally work with people for a common goal. It would also be good for Saki as Ichiro could help protect her when Yasuke's not around.
Saki's Upgrade
Saki showed immense power during the witch fight. As she gets older, she'd need Morisuke to teach her to further hone her skills. The Daimyo warned that as her power grew, she'd become corrupted, so we could see Morisuke helping her get a handle of things and perfect her abilities at his school. He's got students like her already, as well.
However, it's worth noting that the Daimyo was left for the citizens to kill. If the witch is somehow alive, she could return to test Saki. Not to mention other magical threats like the Daimyo are around -- such as the evil priest, Abraham. Beings like these could come to seek Saki's essence again. All this could help move her from a student to a full-blown mage in an organic progression of her arc.
Dissecting Yasuke's Past
We only saw Yasuke's past in flashbacks after the feudal lord of the Oda clan, Nobunaga, took him in during Season 1. Season 2 could therefore take more a prequel stance, revealing more of how they bonded, how Mitsuhide turned on them and joined the Daimyo, what happened to Ranmaru -- who seemed to be in love with Nobunaga -- and why Natsumaru and Yasuke didn't pursue a secret romance.
It could also dive into other feuds with clans besides Hanzo's, and jump into what happened after the Daimyo eliminated Nobunaga's people. Yasuke also said the time after serving his son, Nobutada didn't go well. That's something else that could be detailed, explaining how the seppuku that helped Yasuke kill his lord broke him and sent him into exile in Saki's village.
The Return of Ichika
Ichika was the woman who Abraham had watching over baby Saki, only for Ichika to flee with the girl, not wanting her turned into a weapon of mass destruction. Sadly, she went missing when Yasuke tried to get them to Morisuke for training years later. She lost her arm but we didn't see a body, so she could return to shake up Saki's life again.
Yasuke was given her necklace by Saki, so Ichika's return could also help him gain insight into her clan. Natsumaru was part of that clan as well, which could lead to Yasuke finding a legion of fierce female warriors he could someday ally with. This would provide context for Ichika's heroic actions, elaborating on why Natsumaru backstabbed Nobunaga and Yasuke before the Black samurai killed her.
Created by LeSean Thomas, Yasuke stars LaKeith Stanfield as Yasuke, Takehiro Hira as Nobunaga, Maya Tanida as Saki, Ming-Na Wen as Natsumaru, Paul Nakauchi as Morisuke, Darren Criss as Haruto, Julie Marcus as Nikita and William Christopher Stephens as Achoja. The series is out now on Netflix.
