Starz pirate series sails to second season

Starz has greenlit a second run of its pirate series Black Sails – before the first season has even aired on the US premium cable network.

The Michael Bay-produced drama will launch next January on Starz. The eight-episode first season of the authentic pirate adventure follows Captain Flint (Toby Stephens) and his men, and takes place twenty years prior to Robert Louis Stevenson’s classic novel Treasure Island.

The second season will have a longer, ten-episode run. Like the first, it will be produced at Cape Town Studios in Cape Town, South Africa. Production starts in November.

Chris Albrecht, CEO of Starz, said: “Based on the strong fan response to the preview screening at last week’s Comic-Con, we felt an early order for a second season would allow the writers, cast and crew enough time and space to continue crafting such unique and epic storytelling.”