'Black Sails' Renewed For Season 4 Before Season 3 Goes On Air

Starz' has ordered a fourth season of the “Black Sails” TV series. Deadline reported Starz CEO Chris Albrecht announced the TV show has finished filming for Season 3 and has been renewed for Season 4. The third season has 10 episodes, just as the previous two Seasons, and is set to air in 2016.

The report notes this is the first Starz original series to get renewed for four seasons, and even a popular TV series like “Spartacus: Blood and Sand” had only 3 Seasons. There was, however, a prequel, six-episode miniseries by Starz titled “Spartacus: Gods of the Arena,” released in 2011.

The first two Seasons of “Black Sails” reportedly averaged 4.5 million viewers from various platforms and in more than 175 countries. Variety reported the premiere episode of the second Season of the show had 860,000 same-night viewers, and the finale episode reportedly had about 668,000 same-night viewers.

The main plot of the TV series is set about 20 years before the events in Robert Louis Stevenson’s “Treasure Island.” The story revolves around how Captain Flint (Toby Stephens) attempts to make the island of Nassau a viable place for pirates to live. He is helped by Eleanor Guthrie (Hannah New) and others.

One character who helps Flint for selfish reasons is John Silver (Luke Arnold), a major character in “Treasure Island.” The next season of the show will introduce more characters, the most notable, the pirate Black Beard.

A teaser video of “Black Sails” Season 3 shows Ray Stevenson appearing as Black Beard. The video also shows some of the cast and crew members working on scenes. Some of the other cast members of the show include Zach McGowan as Captain Charles Vane, Toby Schmitz as Rackham, Jessica Parker Kennedy as Max, Clara Paget as Anne Bonny and Tom Hopper as Billy Bones.