Our Flag Means Death was an absolute revelation when it first came out back in 2022. It told the story of Stede Bonnet (Rhys Darby) a man who tries to make it as a “gentleman pirate” despite knowing nothing about seafaring. Along the way he encounters the terrifying Blackbeard (Taika Waititi) and surprisingly falls completely in love with him.
The Stede-Blackbeard ship (this show contains fandom ships and actual ships!) soon became wildly popular. Reams and reams of fanfiction was written about the pair of them on AO3. Fan art flooded the internet. The show got a second season which resolved the cliffhanger from the first one and made the show even more popular. It looked set to conquer the world… and then it was canceled.
Fans were FURIOUS. Showrunner David Jenkins had wanted the show to run for at least three seasons, and the story had now stopped at two. They were so furious, they even went so far as to pay for a billboard in London asking for the show to be renewed, but it was to no avail. Our Flag Means Death remains canceled to this day.
But Jenkins is still looking for a way to save it. In September, he quoted an X post from What’s On Netflix about the platform picking up the rights to stream the sitcom Detroiters, writing, “@netflix hmu about another two season comedy that’s available.” It was obvious which one he meant, and fans of OFMD responded by sending a tidal wave of their own messages to Netflix.
However, much as I hate to throw cold water over this… Netflix might not be the best place for OFMD’s long-term future, on the (tiny, sorry) chance that Netflix did pick it up in the first place. Netflix is notorious for canceling excellent shows, and canceling them on cliffhangers to boot. Not long after Jenkins’ post to Netflix on X, a new trending topic on the social media platform kicked off, and this was #NetflixCancels.
People shared their favorite shows that Netflix had canceled, and there was a lot of them. Shadow and Bone, Dead Boy Detectives, The Get Down, Santa Clarita Diet, The Baby-Sitters Club … the list goes on and on and on. Unfortunately, Netflix picking up the show might be for the worse: imagine it running for a couple more seasons and then getting cancelled on a cliffhanger. The horror!
Although it was sad to see Our Flag Means Death go, it did at least have a happy ending. Stede and Bonnet were together, they had a new home, and everyone was in a good place. So chin up, OFMD fans. At least we’ll always have fanfiction.
Published: Sep 23, 2024 01:22 pm