Our Flag Means Death is romantic comedy centering around the lives of pirates in the 18th century. The final episode of season two of Max’s Our Flag Means Death premiered on October 26th. In anticipation of the season finale, the creator David Jenkins (People of Earth) spoke to Vanity Fair about the series.
In an interview with Vanity Fair, Jenkins described what it was like to film the second season of the series. He stated, “It was good work, but it was hard, hard work. It’s a big show; it’s basically a one-hour show that we’re doing on a half-hour budget. So everybody has to work triple time keeping up with it.”
Jenkins continued to talk about the filming process, specifically the filming location in New Zealand. He explained, “It was jaw-dropping. In New Zealand, you go out the west side of Auckland, and it’s like the most beautiful beach you’ve ever seen. You go to Bethells Beach, and you can turn the camera here; you can shoot the entire thing. You’d shoot it a little bit this way, you’ve got, like, a Bergman movie. You go to the ocean, you’ve got From Here to Eternity. The freedom that you have and the beauty, I’ve never experienced anything like that before.”
In season two of the series, more female characters were given the spotlight with the inclusion of Zheng Yi Sao, played by Ruibo Qian (Black Mirror, Manchester by the Sea), and her crew. Jenkins spoke about the real-life Zheng Yi Sao, noting, “Zheng Yi Sao is the most successful pirate in history. And we never knew anything about her in the West. She was so talented and so good at what she did that the Chinese government had to broker a treaty with her.”
He continued, “She was about 100 years apart from Blackbeard and Stede. So we’re making that up, that she’s in this world and that she’s in the West. But it just seems like there should be so many stories. What she did was amazing. Her crew was largely female and largely women that have been discarded by society.”
Since the first season of Our Flag Means Death premiered in 2022, the show has been praised for its LGBTQ+ representation and has garnered a great deal of attention. In 2022, the series was nominated for a Dorian Award for Best LGBTQ T.V. Show.
In relation to the attention the series has received, Jenkins expressed, “I love it. I can’t possibly hope for this to happen again on another project. I hope I make things that people like and they want to engage with. But I would say the thing that separates this fandom is the level of positivity, like almost uniform positivity that just makes it nice to be able to engage with. And I think that’s rare. They’re so kind and interesting and talented, and so why wouldn’t you want to engage with that? It’s an honor.”
The series has not been renewed yet, but Jenkins spoke to Vanity Fair about the possibility of a season three.
He explained, “There’s always a chance, if viewership is good. I think we all need to figure out what era of television we’re going to be in when we come back and who can afford what. I like our odds. It’s a cool show. We have a really good following. We have a passionate fan base. Max has been great in terms of publicizing us. I’d love to do another season of the show. I’m sure they’d love to have a reason to do it again. You can feel like it’s special making it. It would be nice to be able to get everybody together again for one last shot at it.”
Executive producers of Our Flag Means Death include Jenkins, Garrett Basch (Next Goal Wins, Life Itself), Dan Halsted (Garden State, The Corruptor), and Taika Waititi (Thor: Ragnarok, What We Do in the Shadows). The cast of the series includes Waititi as Blackbeard, Rhys Darby (Yes Man, What We Do in the Shadows) as Stede Bonnet, Con O’Neill (Happy Valley, Vengeance is Mine) as Izzy Hands, Vico Ortiz (These Thems, Misdirection) as Jim Jimenez, Kristian Nairn (Unwelcome, The Appearance) as Wee John Feeney, and many more.
The final episode of season two of Our Flag Means Death can be viewed on Max.