Sure, the approach of fall means cozy sweaters and seasonal beverages, but it means something more important, too: The return of Our Flag Means Death. David Jenkins’ perfect pirate comedy returns for its hotly anticipated second season sometime in October—no date has been announced, but what we do know is that it’ll return with more pirates, more ships, more locations, and more queer romance.
Vanity Fair has the first look at the new season, and it’s a doozy. A whole bunch of pirates freaking out! (I like to believe this is at the reappearance of Nathan Foad’s Lucius, who seemed to fall to a watery death last season.) Minnie freaking Driver as Anne freaking Bonny! Ruibo Qian looking incredible as a mysterious merchant named simply “Susan”! Taika Waititi’s Blackbeard in what appears to be a leather jacket with just one arm!
Buy the Book
The Navigating Fox
There’s a delicious amount of detail in the article about the costumes, which have a “Mad Max, ‘streets of New York’ feel,” according to new costume designer Gypsy Taylor. There are also some tantalizing hints about Izzy (Con O’Neill) and his complicated feelings. As Sarah Catherall writes, “On a series featuring a variety of joyful queer relationships—not just Stede and Blackbeard, but Black Pete and Lucius (Nathan Foad), Jim and Oluwande, and Spanish Jackie and her many husbands—Izzy’s unyieldingly straitlaced devotion makes him an odd man out. By the end of season one many fans speculated that Izzy was driven by something at the intersection of love and obsession. This season, according to O’Neill, Izzy gets even deeper into that dynamic.”
Vanity Fair doesn’t reveal anything huge, of course, but if you’ve been waiting as long as we have for any word on season two, you’ll want to drink in all the hints on offer. And maybe decorate your October calendar with a big pirate ship with a giant heart drawn around it?
This post was written during the 2023 WGA and SAG-AFTRA strikes. Without the labor of the writers and actors currently on strike, the series being covered here wouldn’t exist.
