David Jenkins developed an American historical romantic comedy television series. The series chronicles the antics of aristocrat-turned-pirate Stede Bonnet(Rhys Darby) and his crew onboard the Revenge as they strive to build a reputation for themselves as pirates and cross paths with infamous pirate commander Blackbeard(Taika Waititi) and his right-hand man Izzy Hands(Con O’Neill).
After a successful first season, Our Flag Means Death is ready for a second season. Here is everything you need to know!
“Our Flag Means Death” Second Season On The Way?
The HBO Max pirate comedy “Our Flag Means Death,” starring Rhys Darby as real-life “gentleman pirate,” Stede Bonnet, and Taika Waititi as the infamous Blackbeard is arguably the greatest (and finest) streaming surprise of 2022.
It has developed to become one of the most in-demand series on streaming, garnering plenty of attention and fan participation, particularly when it comes to Bonnet and Blackbeard’s amorous relationship, since its inauspicious launch in early March. Of course, now that the first season is available to stream (and generating so much buzz), the question remains: when will it return?
David Jenkins, the show’s creator, and showrunner turns out to be clueless as well.
“Yeah, no news on that,” Jenkins denoted TheWrap during a recent interview. “It’s hard because of the analytics. And then, you know, HBO, Max has gone through a lot. They’ve got this huge merger. People get scared for their jobs, rightfully so. And then their metrics are their own, they don’t really share. They don’t really share their viewership data even with us. It’s pretty unclear what’s going to happen.”
Season 1 finishes on a massive cliffhanger, with Steed and Blackbeard, separated. Jenkins stated that they were working with the idea that they would return for a second season, and that Blackbeard would return to his wild, pirate-like ways.
“I think there are ways to do it that are less painful. For me, that’s just the story I wanted to see in the first season. I think, if you show them getting together, I mean, part of a rom-com is heartache,” Jenkins remarked.
“And, you know, are they going to overcome that. It ends almost like where the second acts of the rom-com story would end. And to me, that’s always satisfying. If it ends that way, it makes you want to come back.”
Second Season Is Yet To Be Written?
While the second season is yet to be written, Jenkins says they know what “direction they want to take it.” And that returning for a second season would allow him and the other writers to fully use the fantastic, diverse group they had put together in the first place.
“That’s the joy of working with an ensemble. And, you know, the tricky thing about making the first season of an ensemble comedy is you don’t really know what everybody’s superpower is. And then you learn it,” Jenkins said.
“With a second season, you know everybody and what they do way better and you can, make it tailor made for them.” Jenkins described the cast as “unusually strong,” and it’s evident he’s looking forward to working on it.
Jenkins took inspiration from ‘Steed and Bonnet’ for writing “Our Flag Means Death”. “Holes” in the official historical record piqued his interest, notably the solution to the issue of why he was with Blackbeard. And why did he leave his family?
Soon, an image built in Jenkins’ head, “Very quickly, to me, I went, Okay, like he came and Blackbeard had this very intense relationship that looks like a romantic relationship and what would happen in a breakup?”
Jenkins thought that this was the kind of tale he could present in Season 1, “It’s these two people finding each other and falling in love.”
Jenkins admitted that the end of the season, while heartbreaking, was “generous.” “In reality, their falling out was pretty bad. And then they never saw each other again,” Jenkins said.
Jenkins said that the disagreement sprang from King George I’s Act of Grace, also known as The Proclamation for the Suppression of Pirates, which granted a royal pardon for crimes of piracy. (This is from the first season of the program.)
Naturally, Blackbeard captures Stede’s ship, maroons his men on a sandbar, and abandons Stede. Steve spent the rest of his life attempting to locate and assassinate Blackbeard. “That’s when he actually became a confident pirate,” Jenkins stated his opinion.
If the story of “Our Flag Means Death” continues, it seems unlikely that it will follow this one. “I think we’re diverging from that,” Jenkins said. “It’s not so satisfying that they die separately, and he never sees them again.”
When we questioned if the show suffered from the so-called “pirate project curse,” which plagued every big pirate film until Disney’s “Pirates of the Caribbean,” he said no.
Jenkins Remarked On Smooth Production Of The Show
Jenkins remarked on how smoothly the production of “Our Flag Means Death” proceeded, citing Roman Polanski’s “Pirates” and Renny Harlin’s “Cutthroat Island” (which bankrupted a whole production organization), and Peter Sellers’ eventually unreleased “Ghost in the Noonday Sun.” Working with co-star and executive producer Taika Waititi from pre-production through production (which used a similar “volume” technique to that used on “The Mandalorian”).
In aspects of the pirate curse, Jenkins joked: “We’ll see if it’s deferred and we don’t get a second season.”
The internet responded to the show with countless tweets, fan art (some of it very naughty), and reinterpretations as fans waited for news regarding Season 2.
Jenkins seemed truly overwhelmed by the outpouring of love. “I think we are all in awe,” Jenkins said. “Other people I’ve talked to in the cast and the production, I think everybody’s like, You never get this. This never happens. It’s one of those things where you just savor it, because how often does this happen?” Jenkins stated that he’s “genuinely impressed” by the interpretive work that people are doing.
“It’s like somebody made dinner for you with your ingredients,” Jenkins said. “It’s delicious and it’s something you never would have thought to do with those ingredients, It’s just the coolest feeling. I mean, you can’t fake it. Either it happens or it doesn’t. Most of the time, it doesn’t.”
Jenkins Will Not Be Unhappy If “Our Flag Means Death” Is A One-And-Done Season
Jenkins will not be unhappy if “Our Flag Means Death” is a one-and-done season. While he and the rest of the cast and crew would love to see it return, he has come to terms with the possibility that it may be the end. Jenkins replied, “This is not what you want to hear when you want something to come back.”
“But it is on some level like amazing that they let us do this. And if they decide not to do it, it’s going to be a bummer. But ultimately at the end of the day,” Jenkins stopped for a moment and thought of the quotation, “Don’t cry because it’s over, smile because it happened.” We hope they come back for more strangely poignant performances.
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