Black Sails: the perfect Game of Thrones replacement no one remembers

Michael Bay produced Black Sails for Starz as a four-season prequel to Robert Louis Stevenson’s Treasure Island, set in the early 18th century roughly two decades before the book. The series opens in 1715 in the West Indies, where pirates based on New Providence Island have become such a menace that maritime trade is threatened and they are declared hostis humani generis, prompting a doctrine of war against the world.

Season 1 introduces Captain Flint and his crew and follows the search for the Spanish treasure galleon Urca de Lima. In Season 2 the treasure washes up on Florida’s shores, guarded by Spanish soldiers until Jack Rackham and his crew seize it and bring it back to New Providence; Seasons 3 and 4 then centre on the ensuing war for control of the island.

The show also features fictionalized versions of real-life pirates such as Blackbeard, Benjamin Hornigold, Ned Low, Jack Rackham, Charles Vane and Israel Hands.

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