Black Sails (2014)
Take what's yours.
The pirate adventures of Captain Flint and his men twenty years prior to Robert Louis Stevenson’s classic “Treasure Island.” Flint, the most brilliant and most feared pirate captain of his day, takes on a fast-talking young addition to his crew who goes by the name John Silver. Threatened with extinction on all sides, they fight for the survival of New Providence Island, the most notorious criminal haven of its day – a debauched paradise teeming with pirates, prostitutes, thieves and fortune seekers, a place defined by both its enlightened ideals and its stunning brutality.
| Type | TV series |
|---|---|
| First aired | 25 January 2014 |
| Status | Ended, last episode 2 April 2017 |
| Genre | Drama, Action & Adventure |
| Created by | Robert Levine and Jonathan E. Steinberg |
| Starring | Toby Stephens, Luke Arnold and Hannah New |
| Seasons | 4 seasons, 38 episodes |
| Episode length | about 60 min |
| Time to watch it all | about 38 hours |
| Rated | TV-MA |
| Scores | TMDB users 7.6/10 |
Where to watch Black Sails
Black Sails is streaming on Prime Video ($8.99 a month) in the US. At ten hours a week, all of the series takes about 1 month of Prime Video, or $8.99 at list price.
We check availability daily. Page last updated 26 October 2026. Prices are standard monthly plans and change often, so check with the service before you sign up.
Where to watch Black Sails in 9 other countries
| Country | Streaming on (price a month) |
|---|---|
| Australia | ARD/ZDF |
| Belgium | Prime Video €4.99, Max €10.99 |
| France | Max €10.99 |
| Italy | Skygo, Now TV |
| Japan | Prime Video ¥600 JPY |
| Mexico | Tubi |
| Monaco | Max |
| Netherlands | Prime Video €4.99 |
| South Korea | Wavve ₩10900 |
Subscription, free and ad-supported services we track; prices where Binge Boss has a price list for the country. "About" marks a price the service bills in another currency, converted at the day's rate. All countries as data.
What kind of watch this is
Black Sails is a prequel that asks what happens to the characters from Treasure Island when they are young, ambitious, and not yet famous. It runs 38 hours across 4 seasons. That is a long way to walk before you get to the end. The show treats New Providence Island as a place where law and chaos share the same table. Captain Flint is brilliant, terrifying, and constantly trying to keep his crew alive in a town that wants them dead. It is not a feel-good pirate tale. It is a brutal look at how power works when the rules stop applying.
What the critics said
Mixed is the word, though "mixed" feels generous given the 65% on Rotten Tomatoes. Metacritic sits at 58, which is polite for "it didn't quite land." Tim Goodman of The Hollywood Reporter called it ambitious, while Robert Lloyd of the Los Angeles Times declared it a pirate treasure. Others were less charmed. Brian Lowry of Variety found the CGI ships hollow, and Emily St. James of The A.V. Club saw a handsome illusion that rarely went deeper. The first season’s middling score makes the later seasons’ praise feel like a correction, or perhaps just a change of wardrobe.
How it did with audiences
TMDB users rate Black Sails 7.6 out of 10. That is a solid score, suggesting the show found its audience even without a box office record to back it up. No ticket sales, no budget data, just the verdict of the people who actually watched it. The numbers are humble, but the score is not.
What came next for the cast
Toby Stephens moved from Die Another Day and Space Cowboys to 13 Hours: The Secret Soldiers of Benghazi, Hunter Killer, and Lost in Space. Jessica Parker Kennedy shifted from In Time and 50/50 to Cam, Colony, and The Perfect Guy. Luke Arnold appeared in The Tunnel before joining Salvation and Glitch. The credits show a pivot toward genre work. They do not prove Black Sails forced that direction.
If you liked this
TMDB's recommendations for people who watched Black Sails.
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Sources
- Black Sails on TMDB — synopsis, cast, ratings and recommendations
- Wikidata Q13475479 — review scores, box office and awards (CC0)
- “Black Sails (TV series)” on Wikipedia, by its contributors (history) — reception, audience figures and legacy, summarised and adapted here under CC BY-SA 4.0
- Where to watch and prices: Binge Boss, from TMDB watch-provider data (powered by JustWatch) and our own provider list
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