Starz has greenlit its top original series, Black Sails, for a third season.
The pick-up, announced on Oct. 11 at New York Comic Con, comes on the boots of Starz' announcement that the second season of the prequel to Robert Louis Stevenson's classic Treasure Island will commence on Jan. 24 at 9 p.m. (ET/PT).
It also trails the premium network's renewal of Survivor's Remorse, the basketball comedy executive-produced by LeBron James and Tom Carsey.
Black Sails notched a Starz viewership record for the opening weekend of an original series last January. More importantly, its maiden-season voyage averaged 5.3 million viewers per episode across platforms and encores. The show is distributed in about 130 countries and territories worldwide.
The series is created by Jonathan Steinberg (Jericho, Human Target) and Robert Levine (Touch) and executive-produced by Michael Bay (Transformers, Armageddon, Pearl Harbor) and his Platinum Dunes partners Brad Fuller and Andrew Form, producers on Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and The Purge.
“The incredible world that Jon Steinberg and Robert Levine have created continues to unfold in season two. Flint’s journey is riveting, and around him, Jon and Robert have woven an intricate web of conflict, betrayal, and redemption for the other characters that we believe will keep fans of the show coming back for more,” said Carmi Zlotnik, managing director of Starz. “We think that season three will bring even more of the drama and lore that has made it a hit both in the U.S. and internationally.”
Season two begins where the tale left off—The Walrus crew is stranded, with an army of Spanish soldiers standing between them and the precious Urca gold. And with their crimes against their brethren no longer a secret, Captain Flint (Toby Stephens) and Long John Silver (Luke Arnold) must join forces in a desperate bid for survival.
Meanwhile, Eleanor Guthrie (Hannah New) struggles to maintain her grip on Nassau, as a new breed of pirate arrives in the form of Ned Low (Tadgh Murphy), a man for whom violence isn’t just a tool … it’s a pastime. As blood is spilled, and tensions mount, Charles Vane (Zach McGowan) must decide which he values more: Eleanor’s life, or the respect of his men.
