Created by Jonathan E. Steinberg and Robert Levine, Black Sails ran for four seasons between 2014 and 2017, and is consistently named among TV's most underrated shows. Starring an ensemble cast featuring Toby Stephens, Luke Arnold, Hannah New, Tom Hopper, Ray Stevenson, and Jessica Parker Kennedy, Black Sails is somewhat of a prequel to the classic Robert Louis Stevenson novel Treasure Island and features iconic characters from the book like Captain Flint and Long John Silver. While it earned critical acclaim and won multiple Emmys, the series never quite became the mainstream hit it deserved to be during its original run. With a future Treasure Island adaptation on the horizon from Ridley Scott starring Hugh Jackman, there's no better time to revisit Black Sails.
'Black Sails' Is More Than Just a 'Treasure Island' Origin Story
Set during the "Golden Age of Piracy" in the Caribbean and around 20 years before the events of Treasure Island, Black Sails follows Captain Flint, played by Stephens, as he embarks on a quest to find the gold from a crashed Spanish galleon. The series includes younger versions of Treasure Island characters such as Long John Silver (Arnold) and Billy Bones (Hopper). While other additions to the genre, such as Pirates of the Caribbean, lean on the fantastical and mythological, Black Sails cleverly blends the real with the fictional. Black Sails features legendary pirates such as Blackbeard, Jack Rackham, Anne Bonny, and Charles Vane, who become key figures in Flint's story.
These real-life pirates aren't mere Easter eggs for history buffs, either; they play an important part in the narrative surrounding buried treasure and the increasingly complicated struggle over pirate haven Nassau. Despite featuring characters whose endings we already know from history and fiction, Black Sails maintains an aura of unpredictability, just like the pirates themselves.
'Black Sails' Only Gets Better as It Goes Along
While the first season of Black Sails is entertaining, it could give viewers the wrong impression of what the series is really about. During a time when shows like Game of Thrones were known for their sex and violence, Black Sails embraced the same. However, as the series went on, it revealed something much more thoughtful underneath. Piracy, as cruel and vicious as it could be, becomes the narrative engine for the show to explore themes like civilization, colonialism, slavery, identity, and the stories that societies tell about those who challenge authority. Captain Flint's journey begins in search of treasure, but becomes a fight against a world that he believes has already decided his fate.
The latter seasons of Black Sails lean heavily into these ideas, pushing the "search for buried treasure" angle aside, although wealth remains a core tenet of the series' DNA. As the seasons progress, the pirates find themselves squarely within the sights of the British Empire and civilization itself, stirring something akin to a revolution. While this sounds like a drastic narrative turn for a show that was pitched as a pirate adventure series, the escalation works because Black Sails earns it.
Black Sails revolves around Captain Flint, but the supporting cast, notably the rise of John Silver as a leader, is what helps the series set itself up as something more than what it looks like on the surface. The journey of both men — Flint's transformation into a revolutionary and Silver into a pirate leader — forms the backbone of the show. Though it's been nearly 10 years since the first episode was released, Black Sails remains one of those rare shows whose legacy has only improved since it ended. This latest streaming resurgence proves that audiences — both old and new — are still willing to set sail.
Image via Starz
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