Max sinks Our Flag Means Death after two seasons
Rhys Darby and Taika Waititi's beloved pirate comedy sailed for two seasons on Max's choppy waters before washing ashore on cancellation island
Aux News Our Flag Means Death
Our Flag Means Death will swab the poop deck at Max no longer.
Per Variety, Max, formerly the one to watch for new episodes of Our Flag Means Death, has canceled the pirate comedy after two seasons of a queer subtext/text, farcical misunderstandings, and Rhys Darby’s dulcet tones. The series, created by David Jenkins, found an audience due to old-fashioned word of mouth and fan enthusiasm, which carried the show to cult status over the last two years. Unfortunately, three months after the show’s season two premiere, Max fired a cannonball through the bow of the good ship Revenge, sinking the series before it could complete its trip to season three.
Though Max thanked the “dedicated fans who embraced these stories and built a gorgeous, inclusive community surrounding the show” in a statement, it wasn’t enough to keep the show afloat. Jenkins confirmed on Instagram that the cancelation “brought [Max] no joy.”
“We’ve spent two seasons in a bizarre, beautifully-rendered world populated by some of the greatest actors and creatives working,” Jenkins posted. “The second season was made possible by the enthusiasm of one of the most likable fan communities in the history of this medium. Your voices made a difference, your art made a difference, your viewership made a difference in securing more Our Flag.”
In addition to the inclusive community created by fans, the show was a hit with critics, making it one of the few Taika Waititi projects unharmed by the ever-growing backlash against his work. In their recap of the second season finale, which now serves as a series finale, A.V. Club contributor Jenna Scherer praised the show’s capper.
“Calypso willing, we’ll get a third season of Our Flag Means Death. But on the off chance we don’t, ‘Mermen’ is a beautiful, bittersweet note for the series to go out on,” Scherer wrote. At long last, Stede and Ed find themselves looking in the same direction; the crew of the Revenge casts out over the waves with three new shipmates (plus one prodigal son); and Israel Hands dies—too soon, yes, but on his own terms: on the open ocean, in the arms of the man he loves, surrounded by the pack of Muppets who have, against all odds, become his family.”
Hey, at least season three isn’t being used as a tax write-off.
36 Comments
It made for a good capstone for my academic paper and it got me closer to my girlfriend. Other then that I gotta say I never really liked it, for many many seasons some related to my profession some more minor and petty like pacing or man I just never liked Taikas Blackbeard. The one character I enjoyed is the only one that died, in a series with no tension. I’d say fare thee well, but I won’t. I hope the next pirate show in X many years is worthwhile. Maybe that one will also feature Anne Bonny, oh what am I saying, she’s never going away.
I liked it, but agree once that character died the story was over.
This chapter at least.
Oh yeah, it just made the prospects of a third season more miserable. Also complete aside, they gave up on getting comedians as guests this season. Last time they got Kristen Schaal and Tim Heindecker. Here they got… Minnie Driver because she happened to be filming something in New Zealand and had a spare day.
I remember. You’re the pirate expert, right?
Yep. Got some new books in regards to primary sources since last this aired to see if anything LGBTQ ever comes up from the few letters and personal writings of pirates or wife’s of pirates. Nope, nada.
Fascinating. Of course we know the culture was there, if only concealed. Is there a protocol for ‘close readings’ that indicate coded language?
Well gay isn’t gonna appear, buggary was a common legal term for same sex relationship (although it usually meant young boy) and Sapphic was the term for lesbian, you’ll find that word when describing Queen Anne (who probably wasn’t but the accusation came from a fired lady of the court). Most pirate letters, and there aren’t many since literacy isn’t high, were usually love you my wife or I demand money from X. A great example is a letter from Ann Canterel to Adam Baldridge the pirate merchant of Madagascar. Her husband died and she demanded his earnings and its all rather blunt and to the point. Ann Canterel was the mother of a woman named Mary Read, maybe the pirate maybe not. Point being, there’s not much in the way of coded language. The only pirate trial to use the word buggery, its a minor offense and its between a captain and a cabin boy and I believe its 1724. There just isn’t much to go on.
“Sodomy and the Pirate Tradition” by historian B. R. Burg
is the definitive scholarly text about gay pirates
That book is from 1986 and pretty well discredited. Its as reasonable as walking around with a copy of Pirates Own Book. There’s not really a ton of literature on the topic because there’s so little to go on as I said.
“I’d say fare thee well, but I won’t.”
But you did.
Pacing was an issue in the second season but only because of Max’s budget cuts including cutting it to 8 episodes. You must not have watched the show if you didn’t notice any tension. And most people enjoy most of the characters, which is one of the things that made the show great.However, if you’re a pirate expert, I’m sure the show had some problems in that sense.
It was more a comment the showrunner made about how death is never really a concern and we could bring back anyone if we wanted to like John Rackam from season 1. They also kinda wasted fun ideas. Like Edward Low IRL is a weirdo edgy self serious pirate who liked blowing off fingers with gunpowder for fun, the depiction in show was not far off. But nah he’s just gone by the episodes end replaced with a weird one eyed Woodes Rogers knockoff for a villain. Wasted potential is what I’d say the season and series was, in the same way World War Z the film is infuriating if you read the book.
This is on my watch list but I never got around to it. Is it worth watching still or is it one of those deals where you’re gonna be left hanging/feeling unsatisfied because the story got stopped?
There’s some minor loose ends, but I found the Season 2 finale very satisfying. I knew it was a miracle the second season happened at all, and after that episode I thought, “If that turns out to be the ending, I’d be satisfied.”
This, it sucks it’s not getting another season as I really liked it, but it ended in a way that works as a finale.
It has a nice satisfying ending, I thought. You could do more with the premise, I’m sure, but it didn’t need more. Honestly it’s a weird enough show that it had a pretty high chance of a third season having severely diminishing returns.
You should definitely watch. They ended the second season in a way that ties things up enough for it to be a satisfying series ending. I’m sure they did that on purpose in case this exact scenario happened, so at least we have that.
It’s a total delight! Plenty of closure at the end of the second season.
My partner and I really liked it. It’s a sweet show with lots of good laughs.
It’s not perfect, but nothing is.
Hopefully this won’t give the BBC an excuse not to show the second season in the UK. I thought the first season was OK, but a little disappointing given the premise and the talent involved.
Bummer. This was one of my favorite recent shows.
Well the love story arc in season 2 was annoying but we’ll always have Izzy Hands!
Con O’Neil was great. Although I’m sure he’s kicking himself for choosing season 2 of OFMD over The Last of Us. He was originally going to play Bill which means he might have gotten Nick Offermens well deserved Emmy.
He’s no Nick Offerman. Sometimes, things work out for the best. At one point, Beverly Hills Cop was a vehicle for Sly Stallone.
Man guess I gotta watch that other gay pirate show now
TBH, I love me a good queer love story, but once the Stede/Blackbeart subtext became text, I lost a lot of interest. It just wasn’t as funny as the first season’s will they/won’t they (kill and/or sleep with each other) dynamic.
I really liked the first season, but I was satisfied and felt no need to watch the second.
I enjoyed this show, but I’m fine with this. The story of the 2 main characters ended in the season 2 finale, and Waititi has also said that he feels the story is finished.
I’m not queer but had a lot of queer friends and coworkers in my orbit who liked this a lot more than I did, so I’m sad for them that there isn’t a third season. I thought it was just fine with a few standout episodes but otherwise kind of underwhelming and had probably a few too many plotlines going for a half-hour show.
Yeah I know a lot of queer friends who adored the show and I do kinda feel bad stomping on it when they say they loved it. But then someone says Anne Bonny was a lesbian and that’s like kicking the washing machine into extra spin.
Why would have thought a show aimed at 4% of the population would struggle to find an audience?
another cultural product that was not entertaining or well made, but embodied certain positive social/political values and so was latched onto by modern audiences. seems like a stunted, simple way to enjoy culture, but what do I know!
That’s disappointing; it was a great show! But I like the way season 2 ended, so I’m OK with it.
I’m honestly trying to figure some of max’s cancellations out this was supposedly their 2nd highest viewed show it’s first season and it’s 5th highest viewed overall and only supposed to have one more season…Something fishy is happening here…
I really liked this show and feel somewhat responsible for this cancellation as I still haven’t finished up watching season 2 (not because I wasn’t liking it, just busy with a lot of other shit). If the people that watched season 1 aren’t even finishing season 2, I’m guessing that looks really bad in the analytics.
On one hand, season 2 ended at a good wrapping up point after a massive climax (ahem.)But it also proved they could grow beyond the first season, AND historic Stede & Edward didn’t live much longer. I was hoping to see how they’d get to Blackbeard’s famous last stand.