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It was kind of a relief that we’d made
it to the last day. Now that the final
episodes have aired and it’s all wrapping
up, the melancholy is setting in.
“The best thing about it is we gave it
an ending. When you work on a show
like this and give as much as everyone
in the cast and crew did, it feels like
an entire story. We spent as much
time telling
Black Sails
as the story
deserved.”
At the heart of the series – and
one of its major strengths – is the
relationship that develops between
Silver and Captain Flint (Toby Stephens)
after an initially fractious association,
and Arnold agrees that, unofficially, it
has been the through-line of the show.
“It’s one of those strange things of
playing the long game – in season one
we hardly spoke. So it was slow
burn going from a thorn in the
side to [Flint’s] offsider/sidekick
to quartermaster and then
to this strange place where
we’re at in season four. We’re
best friends and allies and all
these pressures are put upon
us. By the time we get to the
end, while there are so many
things going on, the Flint/Silver
partnership, struggle and everything
that goes with that, really comes to the
centre of the show, which for me was very
rewarding. Toby Stephens is one of the most
incredible actors around, so to go on this
journey with him for four years has been a real
treat.”
Silver’s own journey reaches its conclusion in
season four when he becomes the legendary
pirate king Long John Silver, a mantle bestowed
upon him by Billy Bones (Tom Hopper) at the
end of the third season.
“His personal journey in season four is about
whether he believes he can take that on," notes
Arnold. "Does he want to take it on? And what
can he do with that power once he
has it? I’ve played a different version of
the character every season and there’s almost
three different versions again in season four.
That kind of pressure of being a young leader
is really put on his shoulders in the middle of a
huge revolution that’s setting out to change the
world. When he began the story he was just
a guy looking out for his own skin and wanted
a bit of gold for himself, so to get to the point
where he’s now the leader of a revolution is a
pretty significant journey.”
Having made the role of Silver his own,
Arnold reveals he was actually cast in the
series without reading for the part. “I actually
auditioned for Charles
Vane. I was signed to
the show for about six
weeks, I think, before they
found Zach McGowran and
decided he’ll be Vane and I’ll be
Silver. Charles Vane is undeniably Zach
McGowran – what he did with that
character is so unique, although I’m still
curious to see what my Charles Vane
would have been.”
Black Sails
was conceived as a
prelude to
Treasure Island
by creators
Jonathan E. Steinberg and Robert
Levine, so does this raise the possibility
the story could continue in a spin-off
series?
“The way we see
Black Sails
got
solidified in season four – if
Black Sails
was the history then
Treasure Island
became the legend," Arnold offers. "We
don’t get right up to
Treasure Island
but
we allude to a lot of things and do our own kind
of version of the prequel. There’s been a lot
of talk about whether we could do a
Treasure
Island
. In a lot of ways it feels like it would be
hard not to diminish what we’ve done with
Black Sails
if we just did a
Treasure Island
version that stuck close to the book.
“One of the big strengths of
Black Sails
is
the amount of strong women in the show, who
don’t really appear in
Treasure Island
. I think the
way we end
Black Sails
is pretty satisfying and
haunting, and I’d almost be scared to go back
and do any more after the way season four
finishes.”
“The writers definitely took license in taking
characters somewhere that wasn’t in the
historical record. That said, a lot of the history
of the time was either propaganda made by the
pirates or by the other side of civilisation, so
it’s very hard to get a real record of who people
were and what they were about.
How much artistic license is taken with historical characters and events on Nassau?
“We actually have some episodes in
season four that kind of touch on that, and
some of the characters are aware of that
happening. A lot of liberties are taken,
especially in the fourth season. Pirate
historians are going to see things that
don’t match up, but it’s absolutely worth it
in the interest of good drama.
“A lot of crazy stuff happens in the
fourth season. You feel like for three
seasons we’ve gone, ‘ this can’t happen
because of history,’ so it’s kind of fun to
take that and twist it where we can and
surprise everyone.”
We spent as much
time telling
Black
Sails
as the story
deserved
•
Black Sails:
Season 4
is out May 24
29
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