If You Need a Gay Pirate Fix, Black Sails Is Now on Netflix

STARZ

This article contains mild spoilers for Black Sails.

The cult-favorite queer show Black Sails is trending on Netflix, and for good reason: it’s chock-full of gay pirates.

If you’re unfamiliar with the series, a quick primer: Black Sails aired from 2014 to 2017 on Starz. It loosely serves as a prequel to Robert Louis Stevenson’s classic novel Treasure Island and follows Captain Flint (Toby Stephens), the infamous pirate whose treasure the book’s protagonist seeks. Set during the Golden Age of Piracy in the early 18th century, Black Sails doesn’t shy away from the historical realities of the period, and that extends to its inclusion of queerness.

When we’re introduced to Flint, he’s the leader of a ruthless pirate crew based in the Caribbean. Flint is presented as a swaggering, cutthroat leader. But in season two, flashbacks reveal a tragic backstory: the loss of his lover, Thomas Hamilton (Rupert Penry-Jones). Given that there’s substantial evidence that queer relationships — particularly those between men — abounded during the Golden Age of Piracy, it’s no stretch to posit that an iconic fictional pirate wasn’t straight.

However, Flint and Thomas aren’t Black Sails’ only queer characters by a long shot. There’s Max (Jessica Parker Kennedy), a sex worker whose relationships with other women are centered throughout the show. Her first love interest, Eleanor Guthrie (Hannah New), a smuggler and formidable figure who finds herself torn between her love for Max and her fight for power. Viewers are also introduced to Anne Bonny (Clara Paget) who has an open relationship with both Max and the pirate Calico Jack.

While some viewers have argued that Max’s sapphic relationships were filmed to be titillating to men — mainly in the first season — the series has also received fan acclaim for centering the perspectives of multiple queer women and gender-nonconforming characters in a historical period that’s often depicted as male-dominated.

Although Black Sails picked up three Primetime Emmys for sound and visual effects over the course of its run, there seems to be consensus at least among the show’s queer fanbase that the series didn’t get the widespread acclaim it deserved while it was airing. Now that the show has been added to Netflix — and has landed on the streamer’s top 10 most-watched TV shows chart — 2024 might be the year that it finally gets the gay pirate hype that its fans have been seeking.

All four seasons of Black Sails are now streaming on Netflix.

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Originally Appeared on them.