Max has officially canceled the pirate dramedy Our Flag Means Death, according to Variety. Last we checked in on the series, HBO CEO Casey Bloys said it was a "great show" and was weighing whether it "makes sense" to bring it back for a third season. Guess not.
This is a shame, but I can't say I'm bent over in shock. Our Flag Means Death had a passionate fanbase, but it's hard to tell how many people were actually watching. I liked the show. It was breezy, quirky, and extremely queer-friendly—the novelty of making a period dramedy about two middle-aged men who find love was enough reason to keep it around so far as I'm concerned. On the other hand, sometimes the show seemed a little too mild for its own good. It was always a pleasant watch, but I could have used a couple more thrills or belly laughs.
But it was unique, and it will be missed. Also, they played the song "Seabird" by the Alessi Brothers over the credits of one of the episodes in season 2, and I was legit humming that thing for months afterwards. I'll probably hum it again today in memoriam.
Good lord, it's so '70s I could die. Or cry. I could die crying.
What would have happened in Our Flag Means Death season 3?
A while back, Our Flag Means Death creator David Jenkins described what he had in mind for season 3. The first season was about lead characters Stede Bonnet and Ed Teach, aka Blackbird, falling in love with someone for the first time. The second season was about them being like "people in their 20s trying to learn it if they want to move in together.” The third season would be about their mature love:
"[W]hat happens after you start a small business together? How does that work? How do you keep a relationship going? What are the problems in a relationship that are more than just like, oh, does he like me or does he not like me? How do you be a person for that person, and continue to grow with them? What happens if one of them stops growing and you keep growing? That, to me, is a natural outgrowth of what we like in happily ever after. Just because you’re not emotionally in your 20s doesn’t mean the love story stops…We need more love stories where we see this love mature."
Jenkins also had ideas about what would happen with the wider supporting cast of pirates. “I would very much like to see pirates come to America,” he said. “Historically, they were in New York City and the Carolinas. And now, in the story, the Republic of Pirates is gone… I think that stories about piracy are a little bit like stories about the West. They’re stories about these things that are going to end inevitably…In some ways, I think then seeing them have to deal with some of these things in a country that’s coming together would be good. And I think it would be a good way to end the season, and see how they adjust to it.”
The second season ended with Stede and Ed embarking on the next phase of their lives, so it's not a horrible place to leave things. But I would have liked a proper ending season. Ah, well. Fly home, seabird...
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