#rupert penry jones

[a-man-for-hire-and-his-archives]

Here’s Why Everyone Is Talking About A Pirate Drama That Ended In 2017

Black Sails has been described as Game of Thrones with pirates

If Black Sails kicked off in 2020 instead of 2014, it certainly would have thrown fuel on the raging fire that was TikTok’s sea shanty obsession. The reality is that this TV series aired on Starz from 2014 for four seasons, coming to a close in 2017. So why is everyone talking about it now, a decade after it began?

Black Sails is coming to Netflix very soon, triggering its fans to emerge from the woodwork and promote the show online. ‘I am SO excited for people who’ll be watching this show for the first time,’ one user wrote, with many others recommending the series to fans of Game of Thrones. With House of the Dragon still a few months away, here’s why you should tune into Black Sails this month.

New To Netflix: Black Sails

What Is Black Sails About?

Black Sails transports us back to 1715 – aka the Golden Age of Piracy. Set in New Providence, an island in the Bahamas, we meet the feared Captain Flint (Toby Stephens) who brings a new younger crew member into the fold (‘Long’ John Silver, played by Luke Arnold) as his crew continues to fight for survival and negotiate their space on the island.

Is Black Sails Based On A Book?

Black Sails was written as a prequel to Robert Louis Stevenson’s classic novel, Treasure Island (1883).

Is It Based On A True Story?

While Black Sails isn’t based on a true story, it does trace real events. The first season focuses on the hunt for the Spanish treasure galleon Urca de Lima, a real ship that sank in 1715 near Fort Pierce in Florida (where it still lies). Season two traces the fallout of Urca de Lima’s treasure being stranded in Florida, strictly guarded by Spanish soldiers while pirates prowl the shores. The subsequent third and fourth seasons then look at the war for the control of New Providence between the pirates and the British Empire – a la Pirates of the Caribbean.

Likewise, some of the characters are based on real people. Real pirates fictionalised in the show include:

Blackbeard (Ray Stevenson)

Anne Bonny (Clara Paget)

Benjamin Hornigold (Hakeem Kae-Kazim)

Jack Rackham (Toby Schmitz)

Charles Vane (Zach McGowan)

Ned Low (Tadhg Murphy)

Israel Hands (David Wilmot)

Meanwhile, Captain Woodes Rogers (Luke Roberts) – who represents the British Empire in seasons three and four – is based on a real English sea captain and slave trader, and subsequently the first Royal Governor of the Bahamas.

Was Captain Flint A Real Pirate?

Captain Flint is a fictional character who was first created by Robert Louis Stevenson in Treasure Island. He has since appeared in multiple works of fiction, including A. D. Howden Smith’s Porto Bello Gold (1924), John Drake’s Flint and Silver (2008), Pieces of Eight (2009) and Skull and Bones (2010), and J. M. Barrie’s Peter and Wendy (1904).

Where Was Black Sails Filmed?

Black Sails was filmed in Cape Town, South Africa, mainly inside at Cape Town Film Studio. Because the real city is so different today than it was in the 1700s, Nassau – the capital of the Bahamas, located on New Providence island – was built from scratch in a studio over a period of four months, as were two large water tanks to house the series’ two ships. Some scenes were filmed outside in and around Cape Town when new terrain was required, but most of the series was filmed on set.

The Cast

The cast of Black Sails is incredibly large, but key characters to know include:

Toby Stephens as James McGraw/Captain Flint

Hannah New as Eleanor Guthrie

Luke Arnold as ‘Long’ John Silver

Jessica Parker Kennedy as Max

Tom Hopper as William ‘Billy Bones’ Manderly

Zach McGowan as Charles Vane

Toby Schmitz as Jack Rackham

Clara Paget as Anne Bonny

Mark Ryan as Hal Gates

Hakeem Kae-Kazim as Mr. Scott

Sean Cameron Michael as Richard Guthrie

Louise Barnes as Miranda Hamilton/Barlow

Rupert Penry-Jones as Thomas Hamilton

Luke Roberts as Woodes Rogers

Ray Stevenson as Edward Teach

David Wilmot as Israel Hands

Harriet Walter as Marion Guthrie

The Trailer

Interested? Here’s the trailer for a taste of the action.

WATCH

All episodes of Black Sails are streaming on Netflix from 17 April 2024.

Source: Country & Town House

[brotherconstant]

BLACK SAILS • IX. | XXXVI.

2.01 "So this is the lesson… the pirates of New Providence Island are incorrigible, dedicated to mayhem. To attempt to address this subject is doomed to defeat from the outset." "It's not him I wanted you to see. [No mercy! Go all the way to hell!] It's them." 4.08 "Those are the pirates. They've inhabited the east bank, across from Springett Island for years. The governor promises this is the year he'll chase them off, but there they are. Seven major shipping concerns in the city here. In less than 10 years, more goods will move through here than any English-speaking port outside London."

[hotjaneaustenmenpoll]

Propaganda...

Captain Wentworth (2007):

Can't believe Rupert Penry-Jones' Captain Wentworth is barely winning!!!! It's Wentworth - the man is half-agony half hope - writer of the most romantic letter in existence! He has lovely fun friends and you'd get great in- laws!!! He looks like Rupert Penry-Jones!!! Likes music! remembers you don't like to play cards after 8 years!!! Speeds back to his friend regardless of how hard or relentless the journey to make sure he's not on his own when he gets bad news!! Has great stories!!! He looks like Rupert Penry-Jones!!! Loves the sea!! Is Rich!!! Notices you're tired and makes sure you get the seat in the gig even when he wants to hate you!! Is so deeply in love that even after 8 years he can't get over you!! Self-made man!!! Looks like Rupert Penry Jones!!! Look at these besties!!!!

Captain Wentworth! All it takes is that one ten seconds at the end of the film where Anne tells him there’s nothing whatsoever going on between her and Mr Elliot and you can literally see hope dawning in his eyes ALONE even though his face is the same. That’s the Darcy “there is more going on here than I’m letting my face show” thing only for good and not evil! He HAS to take this thing!

Captain Wentworth (1995):

Ciaran Hinds has that perfect ruggedness yet friendliness to his face that makes him the perfect charming Wentworth. And all of the longing that he manages to convey in his eyes is so hot.

Samuel West was rather cross at being asked to read for Mr Elliot - until he learned that Captain Wentworth was being played by Ciarán Hinds.

[cinematicjourney]

Vita & Virginia (2018) | dir. Chanya Button

[heycarrots]

Importing my Twitter musings for maximum emotional damage. I’m . . . sorry? 😬

@jaynovz actually inspired this because we were talking about memories and trauma and how they relate to Silver in our chat for her episode of Reading Between the Lines Podcast. She mentions memories in a vault, which got me thinking about how James is doing the exact same thing. Oh! Which made me realize something else! Holy shit . . . that’s WHY he prods Silver for his past! That’s why he tells him how important all parts of him are, his present, his past, his trauma, it’s all important to embrace. Why?? It’s a lesson he learned from Miranda. One of the last.

Okay, I’ll stop screaming and just continue with my Twitter thread . . .

Once again thinking about how those flashbacks dance around James’ and Thomas’ love story up until episode 2X05. You can certainly hold to the belief that the only reason was to drop that twist mid-season, but let’s think about how we engage with memories.

Some memories are so overwhelming that we avoid them. We don’t have time for them. We tuck them away in a drawer in the darkest corner of our mind where we are convinced we will be safe from them. That’s all well and good if those memories aren’t shared with anyone else.

The flashbacks, we realize very early on, aren’t simply exposition. They exist in Flint’s present reality; memories triggered by Flint’s quest seemingly nearing its end . . . Thomas’s dream finally within his grasp. Equally important, they are triggered by Silver.

It’s very important to remember that we don’t get a single flashback until they are triggered by Silver working with Flint. He begins to remember Thomas because Silver reminds him, not of Thomas, but of himself. He’s now understanding how much of Thomas he’s embodied himself.

In season one, Miranda chastises James for never addressing his loss. For tucking Meditations on a shelf and hiding it away from himself. He’s angry not just because she shared that book with Richard Guthrie, but because she’s reminded him of its very existence.

The flashbacks are all from Flint’s perspective, as he’s focused on his goal. He’s remembering their vision for Nassau, pushing on that bruise to continue spurring him onward, no matter the cost, no matter the casualties. He never brings up Thomas by name. Not once.

It’s Miranda who brings him up by name. Miranda who is desperately trying to get him to remember the love. Remember the true reason he’s doing what he’s doing. She knows he can’t. It’s too much. It’s too painful. And so every single flashback is from Flint’s perspective . . .

Until episode 2X05. When we see that dinner scene with Alfred Hamilton again, when we see that first kiss, it’s Miranda who is thinking of it. That’s HER memory of it because James still can’t look at it. It’s like staring into the sun.

The writers weren’t skirting around the reveal, it was simply being told to us by a character too traumatized to give us the whole story. We needed Miranda’s perspective. She hands him the book and it’s the inscription that finally breaks him. Finally gets him to open that drawer.

But the memories tucked inside that drawer are not Miranda’s. He doesn’t go back to the dinner scene, to that kiss. What we see is what Miranda didn’t see. We see James’s memories of the book.

He couldn’t look at that book because it wasn’t the memory of a tender first kiss at dinner, it was the unbearable intimacy of sharing that book, the private intimacies and love that’s had time to breathe for a bit. Miranda calls it shame because she doesn’t have those memories.

So while it’s true that Black Sails was planned to build up to this reveal from its infancy, it’s equally true that James’s story is told in one of the most organic and ultimately honest narrative arcs I’ve ever seen.

So much of the beauty of this show is derived from the absolute mastery of the writers creating at the very peak of their craft and we should all remember that, during a time when those same creators, who have given us so much, are fighting to be compensated fairly.

Black Sails is the gift that keeps on giving, and onion one might never reach the center of. Considering all of this, I’m beyond excited to see what we are served up with the Percy Jackson series. If it’s anywhere close to the quality of Black Sails, we’re in for a real treat.

[tobys-walrus-crew]

Happy 53rd birthday to Rupert Penry Jones, who shared the screen with Toby Stephens in Black Sails and Cambridge Spies and starred in Toby’s short film In Vitro. 🥳🎉

[unwillingadventurer]

[most4rdently]

“You pierce my soul. I am half agony, half hope. Tell me not that I am too late, that such precious feelings are gone forever. I offer myself to you again with a heart even more your own than when you almost broke it, eight and a half years ago. Dare not say that a man forgets sooner than woman, that his love has an earlier death. I have loved none but you. Unjust I may have been, weak and resentful I have been, but never inconstant.”

[didanagy]

A Little Chaos (2014)

dir. alan rickman

[piraticaltwit]

d.i chandler + scenes that i love / 3.01 ↳ you didn't leave with anyone, did ya? all those bridesmaids goin' begging?

[lajoiedefrancoise]

Vita & Virginia (2018)

[brotherconstant]

BLACK SAILS (2014-2017) INTERVIEW WITH THE VAMPIRE (2022- )

“Has he been like this all day?” “More or less, ma'am, yes.”

“Mr. du Lac would like to apologize and continue with the interview, if you are in...” “Still recording.”

[hotjaneaustenmenpoll]

Propaganda :

Mr Palmer:

Captain Wentworth: ...

[backjustforberena]

EVE BEST and RUPERT PENRY-JONES as  VANESSA BELL & DUNCAN GRANT  in “Life In Squares” - thanks to @evebestonline for the footage, and to @unreliablenarratorink for the request.

[heycarrots]

Black Sails Nation!! Raise the black!! Bring tissues!!

Episode 6 of Reading Between the Lines Podcast is here! And it’s Flint/Hamilton!! 🚨🏴‍☠️😭

@b1uetrees is our guest author, who came out of the fandom gate fucking SWINGING for an emotional TKO!🥊

Have you wondered what would’ve happened if the cameras had just kept rolling on the TOTALLY REAL 100% ACCURATE UNAMBIGUOUS ENDING with James and Thomas embracing in the field?

You won’t have to wonder for long, because there’s NO WAY it doesn’t go down exactly like this and yes, it’s utterly devastating.

I cried through most of this episode and, dollars to donuts, I bet that you will, too.

For those of you who, like me, love LONG podcast episodes and won’t take anything seriously that’s under 45 minutes? Well . . . you’re definitely in luck, today! This bad boy clocks in at 2 hours and 43 minutes! It’s our longest episode yet, but never fear! Next month will be EVEN LONGER!

Thank you, once again, @magicbubblepipe, for the JAW DROPPING cover art you created for this episode!

So grab your Kleenex and click your preferred link below . . . ⬇️

For you Spotify junkies . . .

And for you Apple nerds . . .

[tobys-walrus-crew]

Here’s our Kiss A Ginger Day special edition of Impossible Choices.