Our Flag Means Death’s creator on his pirates’ romance: ‘They’re 14-year-olds, emotionally’
In the year and a half since the season 1 finale of Our Flag Means Death left awkward pirate captains Stede Bonnet (Rhys Darby) and Edward “Blackbeard” Teach (Thor: Ragnarok and Thor: Love and Thunderdirector Taika Waititi) emotionally staggered and physically separated, the show’s vocal, expressive fandom seems to have steadily grown, getting louder, more organized, and more excited for the second season with every passing month.
That’s a lot for series creator and showrunner David Jenkins to contend with. There was no guarantee that the show — which starts out as an ensemble workplace comedy based in real history, then turns into a giddy queer fantasy romance — would find its footing, let alone earn the kind of engaged fan base that most shows dream of.
The first season’s success made one particularly visible impact on season 2: The show shifted production from a Los Angeles sound stage to a much more ambitious location shoot in New Zealand, which let the crew bring some particularly ambitious fantasy elements to the show. Just ahead of the season 2 premiere, Polygon sat down to catch up with Jenkins on the fans’ impact on his season 2 planning, what he wants for the series’ future, and why he sees Stede and Blackbeard as a pair of awkward teenagers just starting to mature past the fairytale phase of their story.
This conversation has been edited for clarity and concision.
Polygon: The most surprising thing for me about the season 2 episodes critics have gotten to preview is the rapid pacing. You’ve said in the past that you’re thinking of this as a three-season show , and I was expecting this to be the season where Stede and Blackbeard have separate adventures, and work their way back toward each other by the end of
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