Rhys Darby as Stede Bonnet looks shocked at season 2 renewal news
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‘Our Flag Means Death’ Cast Had the Best Reactions to Season 2 Renewal News

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Kaila Hale-Stern
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Published: Jun 1, 2022 06:27 pm

HBO Max finally announced the return of the wildly popular pirate romcom Our Flag Means Death after a more than two-month wait, daily fan campaigns, and a whole lot of nail-biting. Now that the news is out and it is good, the show’s cast and creatives got to celebrate along with fans on social media.

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Our Flag Means Death makes for excellent TV, and it blew old tropes of queerbaiting out of the water. But one of the greatest joys of becoming a fan of this show is its warm and vibrant cast. From the first, cast members, production crew, show writers, and creator David Jenkins have shared fan art, answered questions, encouraged cosplayers, retweeted articles, and generally engaged with fandom on a level I’ve never witnessed before. The mutual lovefest between the cast and OFMD’s fans has only strengthened the fandom and given it longer legs; we’re all still out here baking orange glaze cakes. Stories from the set have made it sound like filming went swimmingly and everyone enjoyed being a part of the show. So it wasn’t a surprise that many of the cast would have excited reactions to the renewal announcement, though it was a treat to watch them roll in.

First up, series stars Rhys Darby (Stede Bonnet) and Taika Waititi (Edward Teach/Blackbeard), who play the main couple at the heart of Our Flag Means Death.

Waititi waved both the pride flag and the black flag:

On Instagram, Waititi had even more fun with the announcement news, writing, “🏳️‍🌈🏴‍☠️💦💦🍆🍆💦 Season 2 is officially setting sail. #OurFlagMeansDeath Very happy to be swashing some buckles once more. Also the emojis are not dirty. Those are merely ocean spray droplets surrounding two innocent fully erect eggplants.” (This was a reference to a previous tweet of Waititi’s in which he pleaded innocence as to what those “ocean spray droplet” emojis indicated.)

For his part, Darby appears to have awoken from a nap into what must have been roughly half a million notifications on his phone:

Darby also went on a bit of a delightful tear retweeting exuberant fan reactions and memes, like so:

Darby’s Instagram post on the matter was sweetly earnest and somewhat tamer than Waititi’s. He wrote, “It’s official. We’re coming back! I’m so proud of this show and the role I was born to play. Getting another chance to spread Stede’s wings means so much to me and I know the fans deserve more. We’re gonna bring it!!!”

We heard from Con O’Neill, who plays fan-favorite Izzy Hands. Perhaps no cast member has been so vocally engaged and supportive of fanworks than O’Neill, who was busy highlighting the fans in the hours before the announcement dropped:

Post-announcement, O’Neill showed just how thrilled the cast is to be returning to the beloved show:

Vico Ortiz, who plays Jim, has become a non-binary icon on Our Flag Means Death social media. Like O’Neill, Ortiz has been wonderfully supportive of fans, interacting with fanworks and even doing their own part by cosplaying Izzy Hands.

Ortiz regretted not being able to react to renewal content before it was official, but once again demonstrates how on-board this magnificent cast is.

Also leading the fan charge is the lovely Samba Schutte, who plays ship’s cook Roach. Schutte frequently takes the time to like, comment, and share fans’ work, and he single-handedly helped bring hundreds of “Roach’s 40 Orange Glaze” cakes into being.

Can someone send me a slice of one of these, stat?

Nathan Foad, who plays Lucius (who is absolutely not dead) provided just the right reaction gif:

Claudia O’Doherty (Mary Bonnet) toasted the fan hive’s success:

We also saw happy reactions from Samson Kayo (Oluwande) and Kristian Nairn (Wee John). No word yet from Joel Fry (Frenchie), Nat Faxon (the Swede), Matthew Maher (Black Pete), David Fane (Fang), Guz Khan (Ivan), or Ewan Bremner (Buttons), but not everyone is constantly online. That must be nice!

And last but certainly not least, we have OFMD mastermind David Jenkins, who has embraced the fandom through what must have been a wild ride of a spring:

Jenkins took the time to acknowledge the outpouring of fan participation and enthusiasm that has kept Our Flag Means Death sailing at the top of the charts since its finale:

“We love your love of this show,” Jenkins wrote. “Thank you for an amazing experience and for meeting our work with such kind passion.” If more series on television could have this much synergy between audience and creatives, the world and the world of entertainment would be a better place. Maybe hire David Jenkins and his team for everything?

(image: HBO Max)

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Author
Image of Kaila Hale-Stern
Kaila Hale-Stern
Kaila Hale-Stern (she/her) is a content director, editor, and writer who has been working in digital media for more than fifteen years. She started at TMS in 2016. She loves to write about TV—especially science fiction, fantasy, and mystery shows—and movies, with an emphasis on Marvel. Talk to her about fandom, queer representation, and Captain Kirk. Kaila has written for io9, Gizmodo, New York Magazine, The Awl, Wired, Cosmopolitan, and once published a Harlequin novel you'll never find.
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