Black Sails poster

Black Sails

★ 8.2 127K votes 2014–2017 4 seasons · 38 episodes Ended STARZ
Grew the BeardSeason 1 rated 7.9. From season 3 on it settled around 8.7.
Morally grayNo clean heroes or villains anywhere in sight.This show: 9/10Antihero leadA protagonist doing bad things you can't stop watching.This show: 8/10Criminal underworldOrganized crime, gangs and the criminal life seen from the inside.This show: 8/10GrittyRaw, unglamorous realism in both look and subject matter.This show: 8/10Period pieceSet meaningfully in a past era.This show: 8/10Ensemble castMany characters carrying equal weight.This show: 8/10SerializedContinuous arcs where every episode builds on the last.This show: 8/10Sprawling sagaA many-threaded epic that unfolds across seasons.This show: 7/10
Rate this series
Starring
Jessica Parker KennedyToby StephensHannah NewZach McGowanLuke ArnoldToby Schmitz
Written by
Robert LevineJonathan E. Steinberg
Starring
Jessica Parker KennedyToby StephensHannah NewZach McGowanLuke ArnoldToby Schmitz
Written by
Robert LevineJonathan E. Steinberg
Ratings per Episode
246810
Votes per Episode
01k3k4k5k

Black Sails Episode Ratings Heatmap

AvgE1E2E3E4E5E6E7E8E9E10
S17.97.87.67.57.78.28.08.08.7
S28.68.58.68.68.07.78.08.18.49.29.6
S38.78.78.58.68.58.28.48.58.69.09.5
S48.68.58.29.28.48.59.18.18.29.08.6

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About

"Pirate swashbuckling that quietly becomes tragedy"

Set decades before Treasure Island, this pirate saga follows Captain Flint and his crew as they hunt a legendary Spanish treasure while the pirate republic of Nassau teeters between freedom and destruction. It starts as handsome, competent adventure television, but grows into something far richer: a sprawling political drama about empire, greed, and the people history erases. The scheming and double-crosses are constant, the action set pieces are genuinely thrilling, and by its later seasons it becomes a surprisingly moving story about doomed ideals and the men who died for them.

Watch it for

the slow transformation from swashbuckling adventure into a genuinely tragic story about empire and freedom.

Maybe skip if

you need immediate payoff, since the first season is noticeably weaker than what follows.

Written by our AI editor to help you decide, spoiler-free by design.

All Seasons

Season 12014
7.923K87h 34m
1715: The Golden Age of Piracy. New Providence Island is a lawless territory, controlled by history’s most notorious pirate captains. The most feared is Captain Flint. As the British Navy returns to redeem their land and exterminate Flint and his crew, another side of him emerges. Captain Flint aligns himself with Eleanor Guthrie, daughter of the local kingpin, to hunt the ultimate prize and ensure their survival. Many opponents stand in their way: rival captains, jealous of Flint's power; Eleanor's ambitious and intrusive father; and a young sailor recently recruited onto Flint's crew, John Silver, who constantly undermines his captain’s agenda.
Season 22015
8.626K109h 14m
Season two begins where we left off—The Walrus crew is stranded, with an army of Spanish soldiers standing between them and the precious Urca gold. And with their crimes against their brethren no longer a secret, Flint and Silver must join forces in a desperate bid for survival. Meanwhile, Eleanor Guthrie struggles to maintain her grip on Nassau, as a new breed of pirate arrives in the form of Ned Low, a man for whom violence isn't just a tool … it’s a pastime. As blood is spilled, and tensions mount, Charles Vane must decide which he values more: Eleanor’s life, or the respect of his men. And unbeknownst to all of them, a prize of immeasurable value has already been smuggled onto the island … one whose discovery will alter the very landscape of their world, and force everyone in Nassau toward the ultimate judgment: are they men, or are they monsters?
Season 32016
8.723K109h 4m
In the wake of Charles Town, the world lives in fear of Captain Flint. But when his campaign of terror crosses over into madness, it falls to John Silver to locate the man within the monster. Meanwhile, with Eleanor Guthrie gone, Jack Rackham and Captain Charles Vane struggle to secure Nassau for the ages. All will be tested when a new threat arrives. It knows them. It understands them. And in the blink of an eye, it will turn them against each other.
Season 42017
8.621K109h 51m
Hundreds of British soldiers lie dead in a forest… the Royal Navy sails back to England in retreat… the West Indies are now a war zone, and the shores of New Providence Island have never been bloodier. With the help of Eleanor Guthrie, Woodes Rogers transforms Nassau into a fortress without walls, as Captain Flint amasses a fleet of unprecedented strength, hoping to strike the final blow against civilization and reshape the world forever. Meanwhile, from within the island… an insurgency builds, fueled by the legend of its exiled leader, whose name keeps grown men awake at night… the one they call “Long John Silver.” But as Flint, Silver and their allies are about to learn, the closer civilization comes to defeat, the more desperately and destructively it will fight back. Oaths will be shattered, fortunes will change hands, and amidst the chaos, only one thing remains certain: it has never been more dangerous to call oneself a pirate.

Full Cast & Crew

Cast

Jessica Parker Kennedy Max
Toby Stephens Captain Flint
Hannah New Eleanor Guthrie
Zach McGowan Captain Charles Vane
Luke Arnold John Silver
Toby Schmitz Rackham
Clara Paget Anne Bonny
Winston Chong Joji
Tom Hopper Billy Bones
Andre Jacobs De Groot

Crew

Robert Levine
Jonathan E. Steinberg

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