About “Black Sails” in a few words:

Black Sails is a thrilling pirate drama series set in the early 18th century, featuring a mix of fictional and historical characters. It revolves around the infamous pirate Captain Flint and his crew as they fight to maintain their stronghold on the New Providence Island and the treasure-filled Spanish galleons that pass through. Along the way, they encounter rival pirates, corrupt politicians, and dangerous adversaries, all while dealing with their own personal demons and betrayals. The show is known for its action-packed battles, intricate plot twists, and complex characters, making it a must-watch for fans of the pirate genre.

Meet the characters from Black Sails

James Flint

Flint is that burned-into-your-eyes kind of captain — all inscrutable plans and a stare that makes you check your pockets. He’s obsessed with order and revenge, the kind of man who treats strategy like scripture and also keeps a ridiculous little journal he mutters into at 3 a.m. Cold and principled? Yes, but also secretly the sort to hum an old hymn when he thinks no one is listening (or maybe that’s just a cough, I can never tell). There’s a weight to him — like he’s carrying the past in his hands — and he’ll make friends pay to hold it back, which is either noble or terrifying depending on your luck.

Eleanor Guthrie

Eleanor runs Nassau’s grey markets like a queen in sensible shoes and a very sharp temper; she is absolutely brilliant at making trade look like mercy. She’s merciless when she needs to be and somehow also maternal in a ledger-and-raw-ginger-snap kind of way — it’s confusing and kind of wonderful. She loves a good dress, hates being underestimated, and will stab you in the back with a ledger entry if that’s what keeps the lights on (metaphorical stabbing, probably). Also she collects little porcelain things that mean nothing and everything; I’m pretty sure at least one is cracked on purpose.

John Silver

John is endlessly hungry — not just for food (though he does love a good stew) but for opportunity, stories, a leg up, respect, whatever will keep him alive and clever. He can be warm and clumsy and making you laugh one minute, and the next he’s rearranging loyalties like pieces on a chessboard, which feels like a betrayal and a masterpiece at once. He cooks a mean potpie, keeps a map in his head, and whispers to the ship’s timbers like they owe him rent; he’s the kind of liar who believes his own better lies sometimes. I think he collects buttons — or maybe that was a hat — either way he’s full of small, human things that make him messy and brilliant.

Max

Max is the quiet backbone type, the one who gets things done without making speeches — steady as a knot and just as stubborn. He’s practical, hands-on, suspicious of revolutions until they pay the bills, and also oddly sentimental about small victories (like finding a clean shirt, or getting someone to laugh). He rarely shouts but when he does you listen, and he has this little grin that suggests he’s seen things and decided to keep them to himself, mostly because speaking would be inconvenient. Also, he definitely has a ridiculous pet name for the ship — or was it for a person? Either way, it sticks.

William “Billy Bones” Manderly

Billy Bones is this loud, brawling, heart-on-his-sleeve sailor who swears like a cannon but will stand up for the underdog without a second thought. He loves a good night of singing, a bad night of gambling, and a morning where he can nurse an old scar with rum and nostalgia — he’s built of stories, mostly the kind you hear over too-strong ale. He’s brave in a bright, blunt way and also more sentimental than he lets on; he’ll punch a man for you and then write you a letter he can’t quite finish. There’s a huge, ridiculous loyalty in him; sometimes it’s noble, sometimes it’s just chaos, and honestly both are fun to watch.

Charles Vane

Vane is pure maelstrom — feral grin, impulsive violence, and a streak of genius that loves to blow things up just to see what’s inside. He hates rules with a passion and adores the raw honesty of a good brawl, but he’s also unexpectedly principled about certain things (like never turning on your own, unless you make him, which you probably will). He’s charismatic in the brutal sort of way that makes you want to follow him and also medal him away from your children immediately. Oh, and he might have a secret fondness for small, perfectly folded maps; I can’t explain why but picture it and it fits.

Jack Rackham

Rackham is a flirt, a schemer, and the kind of man who’ll talk you into something and make you feel like it was your idea — sometimes even when it wasn’t. He’s witty and flamboyant with an annoying fondness for irony, but he’s also surprisingly shrewd; beneath the lace cuffs and the smirk is a brain that counts odds like prayers. He’s romantic in a cheap-pistol, runaway-poem way: he’ll write a line that makes you melt and then steal your coat to keep you warm, or vice versa. Also, I’m pretty sure he paints his nails sometimes and then acts like it’s the most normal thing in the world.

Anne Bonny

Anne is combustible in the best possible sense — fierce, furious, and devastatingly funny when she wants to be, with a laugh that makes trouble. She fights like she was born with a blade in her hand and loves chaos the way some people love chamber music, but she’s also unexpectedly tender toward the people she chooses (and yes, she chooses fiercely and maybe inconsistently). She drinks, she jokes, she’ll bite you and bandage you up in the same afternoon; she’s contradictions wrapped in leather and spit. Also, rumor has it she keeps a lullaby for herself and sings it off-key before a fight — it’s silly and it makes her more terrifying.