Black Sails Is The Best Historical Drama On Netflix
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Published Apr 6, 2026, 9:31 PM EDT
Faith Roswell is a Senior Writer on Screen Rant's Classic TV team. Since earning her degree in Creative Writing over a decade ago, Faith has written articles on film and TV from a variety of different angles. Faith now combines her knowledge of psychology with her love of monster movies to give more insight into what makes the best ones.
You may have read her Screen Rant lists and features covering horror, sci-fi, and fantasy, or read her Amazon Top 10 book, "Movie Monsters of the Deep."
Faith has had an extensive career as a writer, appearing on BBC live radio, researching true crime for Rotten Mango podcast, and writing for publications including Mental Floss, Atlas Obscura, and The Daily Jaws before beginning here at Screen Rant.
The historical drama genre is an extremely versatile one, with much more room for creativity than it might seem at first. While previously the genre would conjure images of series rooted firmly in one era, like Pride and Prejudice and Downton Abbey, Netflix is home to some great historical dramas that have rewritten the rules and given audiences a new kind of show to watch.
Black Sails is a prequel to Robert Louis Stevenson's novel, Treasure Island, which has been adapted many times for the screen, but never as a long-running prequel. Black Sails features several Treasure Island characters, but the show puts a twist on the fictional story, as it also introduces real-life figures and events, giving viewers an exciting and unpredictable historical drama.
Black Sails Is An Excellent Historical Drama
Black Sails is a very bingeable epic historical masterpiece, and with four seasons and a total of 38 episodes averaging about an hour each, the show can be watched over a long weekend. It is an obvious choice for viewers interested in pirates, but the show has something for everyone, including excellent set design, complex characters, and intense, high-budget action scenes.
The Black Sails sets are extremely detailed, sometimes taking over 300 workers just to build one ship.
Black Sails reimagines the Golden Age of Piracy in a way that still feels real despite the story mostly being fictional. Despite being a better show than the major streaming phenomenon of the time, Game of Thrones, it has been underrated until relatively recently. While the first season was not its strongest, the show's second season earned a 100% positive critical rating on Rotten Tomatoes.
How Accurate Is Black Sails?
Image via Starz
Black Sails occupies an unusual position when it comes to historical accuracy. Treasure Island was a fictional story, but it was influenced by real pirate folklore, and Black Sails expands on this. Many of the pirates in Black Sails were real people, like the legendary Long John Silver, and the show represents many of their eventual fates with surprising accuracy.
One of the most accurate elements in Black Sails is the battle scenes. A pirate expert praised one of Black Sails' battle scenes, explaining that it has "a lot of historical accuracy." The scene shows real-life pirates Anne Bonny, Jack Rackham, and Edward Teach (Blackbeard) dividing their crews and going into battle. Pirate historian Rebecca Simon gave the moment a seven out of ten score.
That said, while the show sometimes represented real events, Black Sails made some major changes to the Treasure Island story, mostly concerning which characters met and when. Still, a real-life event that could have been depicted in Black Sails was the confrontation between Vane and Calico Jack. It is not known why the show changed the history here, but the story has not suffered.
Black Sails Has Aged Like Fine Wine
Black Sails has aged much better than many TV shows that were airing during the same era, and this is partly due to the fact that its best features are timeless. While pirate-themed movies and TV shows can fall in and out of fashion, drama and action do not, especially when the production quality is so high.
Black Sails includes plenty of violence, including a brutal episode that you will not want to rewatch, but rather than rely on shock factor and a twist in every episode, there is more to the show's storytelling. Black Sails is character-driven, presenting relatable and believable characters, while also highlighting much bigger themes, including colonialism and the concentration of power.
The Four Seasons of Black Sails
Season
Year
Episodes
Rotten Tomatoes Critics' Rating
Rotten Tomatoes Audience Rating
1
2014
8
65%
80%
2
2015
10
100%
90%
3
2016
10
-
86%
4
2017
10
80%
79%
Visual effects can drastically age a show, but Black Sails was committed to practical effects and elaborate sets instead of relying on CGI, , making the show feel tangible and real, even nine years after it has ended. It is not surprising that Black Sails became a streaming hit, and as it leaves Netflix soon, now is the perfect time to watch its best historical drama.
Release Date
2014 - 2017
Showrunner
Jonathan E. Steinberg
Directors
Alik Sakharov, Steve Boyum, Lukas Ettlin, Stefan Schwartz, Clark Johnson, Marc Munden, Neil Marshall, Sam Miller, T.J. Scott, Michael Nankin, Rob Bailey, Roel Reiné, Uta Briesewitz
Writers
Dan Shotz, Lisa Schultz Boyd, Heather Bellson, Doris Egan, Michael Angeli, Michael S. Chernuchin, Peter Ocko, Josh Rothenberger
Image via Starz
English (US) ·