Our Flag Means Death season two trailer teases queer heartbreak: ‘Everything I could have hoped for’
Rhys Darby as Stede (L) and Taika Waititi as Blackbeard (R) in Our Flag Means Death. (Max)
The season two trailer for Our Flag Means Death promises epic queer romance and mutinous high jinks galore.
The hit gay pirate sitcom offers an LGBTQ+ spin to the real life-story of 18th-century co-captains turned rivals, “Gentleman Pirate” Stede Bonnet, played by Rhys Darby, and Edward “Blackbeard” Teach (Taika Waititi).
The high-seas comedy, which first aired in the US in March last year, and in the UK about a year later, rapidly built a devoted LGBTQ+ fan base thanks to its range of explicit queer representation. Fans have been clamouring for a second season since the finale cliffhanger which saw Stede and Blackbeard’s relationship put in peril.
When their plans to run away together fall through, Blackbeard is consumed by bitterness and maroons Stede’s crew on a remote island.
At the same time, Stede realises he has fallen head over heels for the wayward pirate and heads out on a new voyage to reunite with his lover.
The season two trailer, which dropped on Wednesday (30 August), shows the two pirates separated by an ocean of heartbreak, all set to the backdrop of Prince’s love ballad “The Beautiful Ones”.
The one-minute teaser starts with a soulful monologue from Stede to Blackbeard. “Dear Ed,” he says, “I love everything about you, I love being near you, breathing the same air.” However, it becomes clear that Blackbeard is still furious about being jilted, with him simply saying: “F**k you, Stede Bonnet”.
As Stede tries to track down his depressed and murderous boyfriend, the pirate gang encounters doomed weddings, swashbuckling fights and plenty of miscommunication along the way.
But Stede and Blackbeard’s romance isn’t the only one in danger. Season one also saw love blossom between scribe Lucius (Nathan Foad) and Black Pete (Matthew Maher) before they were brutally torn apart. Elsewhere, non-binary pirate Jim (Vico Ortiz) and shipmate Oluwande (Samson Kayo) pursued their physical desires for each other.
Now, with an eight-episode second season on the horizon, fans are sharing their excitement.
“Oh yay, my favourite messy queer couple, [who] I am way too overly emotionally invested in, are back. This season looks like it’ll be so good,” one person wrote.
Another said: “Yes. Give me my gay pirates.”
In an interview with Vanity Fair Con O’Neill, who plays Blackbeard’s deputy and spurned lover Izzy Hands, hinted at what’s in store for his character.
“He understands what love is and whom he’s in love with,” O’Neill said. “Physically, it’s been quite demanding, and, emotionally, it’s been quite demanding to be playing a man enraged by unrequited love, who’s basically a hopeless romantic, and to be able to play all that and also remember that this is fundamentally a comedy.”
Meanwhile, Ortiz revealed that Jim will fully embrace his pirate comrades. “In this [season], you see them a bit more [thinking]: ‘Oh, this is my chosen family, and I feel good’. There’s a bit more zaniness and a bit more softness.”
The first three episodes of Our Flag Means Death season two drop on Max in the US on 5 October. There is no official air date in the UK yet, although some sources expect it to be before the end of the year. Season one aired on BBC 2 and is available on catch-up.
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