All of the Our Flag Means Death season 3 news we’ve heard so far

[Ed. note: Spoilers for the Our Flag Means Death season 2 finale ahoy!]

The Our Flag Means Death season 2 finale leaves our merry crew in a nice spot: Sure, there’s some British Navy to hunt, but that’s an evergreen truth for pirates everywhere. And in the meantime, Lucius (Nathan Foad) and Black Pete (Matthew Maher) got married, with Zheng (Ruibo Qian) and the crew sailing off into the sunset looking content (and surprisingly functional, all things considered).

Izzy (Con O’Neill) dies [sob] but does get to finally share a sweet moment with Blackbeard (Taika Waititi). Stede (Rhys Darby) and Blackbeard stay behind, excitedly settling into their new home together just nearby where they buried Izzy. It’s all very tender and warm-hearted, complete with Ed and Stede running towards each other on the beach for their reunion and confession of love.

Will there be Our Flag Means Death season 3?

Photo: Nicola Dove/Max

Unfortunately: No — at least, not at Max. Max announced it was cancelling Our Flag in January 2024, thanking the fan base for all their passion.

Like many shows, Our Flag Means Death theoretically could find new life at a different network, but showrunner David Jenkins seemed somewhat resigned when he announced the news on his Instagram.

“Getting to share this show with you and watching you make it yours has been a dream come true,” he wrote in his post. “We’ve sailed at the pleasure of the fine people at Max, and it brought them no joy to see this journey come to a premature end.

“Our Flag Means Us. Loving one another, pulling off some pretty weird and beautiful shit, and talking it through… as a crew.”

At the very least, it seems Our Flag ended in a good spot: with Zhang and the crew leaving to hunt down Ricky Barnes (Erroll Shand) to get revenge for him blowing up all their ships, briefly imprisoning the pirates, and killing Izzy.

Showrunner David Jenkins originally told Polygon he envisioned Our Flag as a three-season show. And he saw the arc of Stede and Ed’s relationship as a major guiding force for that:

The point of the first season to me is that these two people are learning what love is for them. In the last episode, Stede’s ex-wife tells him what love is, and then he’s like [perky Stede Bonnet impression] “Oh! Then I’m going back!” And then Blackbeard is like [Blackbeard impression, grumbling sulky noises]. In the last episode, he’s dealing with the fact that he even made himself vulnerable.

The second season to me is like, you have the kiss, you decide you’re gonna run away together, you decide not to do it, ultimately. So watching these two characters navigate each other — at the end of the first season, they’re 14-year-olds, emotionally. In this season, it’s more like they’re in their late 20s. They’re like, [Blackbeard impression] Oh, man, should we move in together? What would that be like? Whose home would we live in, yours or mine?

Watching those two characters deal with that, in this setting, is interesting to me. It’s about the work of a relationship — what does it mean to have a mature relationship? Do we want to do that? And can we do it? Do we have the equipment to do it? That’s an interesting story to follow the fairytale story of “We met each other and we kissed.”