This past January, HBO canceledOur Flag Means Death after the show’s second season premiered (and wrapped) in October. As with most cancled shows, a fan campaign emerged to try and get HBO to renew the show, while creator David Jenkins said he’d try his best to shop the show around somewhere else that’d be open to a comedy about gay pirates.
Andrew Callaghan Talks ‘This Place Rules’
But those dreams are now over, as Jenkins revealed on Instagram the show wouldn’t be picked up at another network or streamer. “We’ve reached the end of the road, at least as far as this sweet show is concerned,” he wrote. “After many complimentary meetings, conversations, etc., it seems there is no alternate home for our crew.” Jenkins went on to thank their fans for their efforts, which were “noticed across the industry”—they’d fundraised enough money for billboards in New York and London, which he says went a ways in helping the cast and crew “deal with the loss.”
“A love like ours can’t disappear in an instant,” he concluded. “When we see each other off in mystic, say hello. We won’t say goodbye, because we’re not leaving. We’re just taking a breather until next time we can share something together.”
Our Flag Means Death was just the latest cancellation in a decent-sized streak from HBO. Along with the likes of Rap Sh!t and The Flight Attendant, the network binned Westworldafter four seasons, in a move that came a surprise to that show’s cast and crew, given it was ready to close things out with season five. Its parent company Warner Bros. Discovery has been on a tear this week—media company Rooster Teeth is being shut down, while it’s preparing to delist titles published by Adult Swim Games, and reportedly refusing to just transfer Steam publishing rights over to those individuals.
J. D. Lifshitz and Raphael Margules, the producing duo behind horror hit Barbarian, are producing the comedy, which is now in production, with Fifth Season, the financier-distribution-production outfit behind recent movies Flora and Son and 80 for Brady. Fifth Season, formerly named Endeavor Content, is also financing.
Written by DeYoung, Friendship centers on a mild-mannered man named Craig, whose life is perfectly balanced, with Subway sandwiches and Marvel movies, a job he enjoys and a happy homelife with a wife and son. That life is upended with the arrival into the neighborhood by a weatherman, played by Rudd. Mysterious yet friendly, macho but vulnerable, the weatherman transforms everything for Craig, but Craig’s obsessive and childlike nature threatens to ruin the friendship and possibly everything else in his life.
Tracy Rosenblum is acting as executive producer.
WME Independent and UTA are co-repping domestic sales for the title with Fifth Season.
Andrew DeYoung
Kevin Winter/Getty Images
DeYoung made a name for himself in television, where he recently earned an Emmy for writing Would It Kill You to Laugh, the Peacock comedy special starring John Early and Kate Berlant, which he also directed and executive produced. And on top of directing episodes of Max’s Our Flag Means Death and Hulu’s four-Emmy-nominated PEN15, his credits include episodes of Hulu’s Shrill, FX’s Dave and Netflix’s upcoming The Decameron, among others. He is repped by WME and Rise.
Robinson is a former writer and player on Saturday Night Live who broke out with his Netflix sketch comedy series I Think You Should Leave, whose third season hit last year. The series won two Emmys last month, for shortform comedy or drama series and outstanding actor in a shortform comedy or drama series. Robinson also won in the second category at the 2022 Emmys.
Rudd, last seen in Hulu’s Only Murders in the Building, next stars in Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire, which Sony opens March 22. He is repped by UTA, Lighthouse Management + Media and Jackoway Austen.
Mara recently starred in the FX crime series Class of ’09, which streamed on Hulu. She is repped by CAA and Mosaic.
If you love a good queer, geeky romance, then chances are you’ve been having a very good year. Good Omens, Loki, and Our Flag Means Death all got their sophomore seasons within a few months of each other in 2023—and artists have been celebrating the return of some of our favorite characters with amazing fan art mashups.
Why are these three shows so popular? It all comes down to character. There’s Aziraphale and Crowley in Good Omens, an angel and demon who avert the apocalypse but can’t seem to figure out how to communicate with each other. Loki has given us Loki and Mobius, two (admittedly not canon) work husbands at Marvel’s Time Variance Authority. And then there’s the on-again, off-again romance between Stede Bonnet and Blackbeard in Our Flag Means Death. We love all of these flawed, earnest, and prickly characters. They make mistakes. They try harder to do good. They surprise themselves and each other. And sometimes, they kiss.
What’s kind of hilarious about these three shows, and the enormous overlap between their respective fandoms, is how similar the dynamic is between the three pairings. Each one features a kindly, lovable marshmallow of a man (Aziraphale, Stede, and Mobius) who’s inexplicably paired up with a ruthless snake (Crowley, Ed, and Loki). There’s a reason The Odd Couple became such an enduring blueprint for onscreen relationships, platonic or romantic. The dynamic is just so much fun.
And when you throw in the similarities in character design? What a treat for artists. Here’s some of the best mashup art we’ve found of Aziraphale, Mobius, Stede, Ed, Loki, and Crowley!
First, my personal favorite: the Blonde Slut Club and the Tall, Dark, & Whipped Club.
Check out these two adorable snakey guys! They’ve both literally turned into snakes at some point, and I love that for them.
Here’s Crowley and Loki again, trading accessories.
Here are a couple of mashups of Loki/Crowley and Mobius/Aziraphale. What I love about these drawings is that, unlike Aziraphale, Mobius is 100% okay with doing terrible stuff like torturing prisoners to get what he needs. And yet he’s still got that angelic demeanor!
Of course, not everyone has time to watch a billion Marvel movies so that they can get into Loki, so here are a few drawings that just combine Good Omens and Our Flag Means Death. I think Stede and Aziraphale would have a grand old time together.
Of course, this art is just the tip of the iceberg. Have you found any mashup art that you love? Share it in the comments!
This piece was written during the 2023 SAG-AFTRA strike. Without the labor of the actors currently on strike, the work being covered here wouldn’t exist.
Season 2 of Our Flag Means Death is exceeding all expectations. Created by David Jenkins, the Max series takes inspiration from historical pirates and casts them in a new light. Rhys Darby’s gentleman pirate Stede Bonnet and Taika Waititi’s Edward “Blackbeard” Teach (and their interesting relationship) are based on real people. So are Israel “Izzy” Hands (Con O’Neill) and season 1’s John “Calico Jack” Rackham (Will Arnett).
The depictions may not be 100 percent accurate, but they aren’t exactly inaccurate either. Historical records from this period are varied, skewed, and severely lacking. So we can’t say without a doubt who these people were or how they acted. Since pirates were considered by criminals by their contemporaries, depictions of them would not have been favorable. Also, many accounts may have been sensationalized to sell newspapers and books. Mentions of overt queerness or women not fitting prescribed social standards might have been left out of any recorded text. Pirates are also a group that didn’t leave much in the way of primary sources. Not many pirates kept journals or held extensive correspondence, so many of these accounts come from word-of-mouth from supposed witnesses.
Our Flag Means Death takes these figures in a direction that is fresh and adored by fans. The show became an unexpected hit for pirate lovers everywhere. It only makes sense that the hit queer pirate show would bring in more historical figures for season 2. Let’s look at all the infamous pirates that have been given a new lease on life in OFMD.
Zheng Yi Sao
(Max)
Zheng Yi Sao is considered to be one of the most (if not the most) prolific pirates in history. Although the real Zheng Yi Sao sailed long after the other pirates featured in the show, she’s a great addition to the cast. Introduced as “Susan the soup merchant” and played by Ruibo Qian, Zheng Yi Sao reveals herself to be a pirate queen early on in the season. As in real life, she commands a fleet of ships with a tight crew. During her reign over the seas near China, Zheng Yi Sao led over a thousand ships and personally commanded over 200 ships along with their crews. Her pirating days ended after negotiating her surrender to the Chinese government, and she lived the rest of her days as a free woman.
John Roberts / Bartholomew Roberts, a.k.a Black Bart
Although he wasn’t called Black Bart (the pirate, not the Western outlaw) in the show, this notorious pirate made an appearance. While Stede Bonnet and Oluwanda accompanied Zheng Yi Sao onto a ship, they were told the captain was called John Bartholomew. In real life, this captain was more well-known by his aliases Bartholomew Roberts and Black Bart. The real-life version is credited as one of history’s most successful pirates, and overtook more than 400 ships. Some sources also credit Black Bart with writing a pirate code that ensures democracy and equality on ships. He also served as inspiration for the Dread Pirate Roberts in The Princess Bride.
Captain Benjamin “Ben” Hornigold
(Max)
Captain Benjamin Hornigold was mentioned in season 1 of Our Flag Means Death, but we didn’t see him until the new season. Calico Jack and Blackbeard joked about how they met on the ship and mutinied against the captain. While in purgatory, Blackbeard sees Hornigold, who wants to go by Ben, as his guide in the unknown land. The real Hornigold was a pirate and may have had Blackbeard as his second in command when he sailed. He also was one of the pirates to establish a pirate settlement on the island of Nassau. When the King of England established a system for pardoning pirates, Hornigold saw the shift in the times and took the pardon and hunted his former pirates until his death.
Anne Bonny and Mary Read
(Max)
Anne Bonny and Mary Read have always been known as a duo; they sailed together and went to jail together. They were among the few women tried and convicted of piracy in their time. Some historians feel their story is very well documented via A General History of the Pyrates by Captain Charles Johnson. However, others—including myself—think the record falls apart under scrutiny. Luckily for those of us obsessed with this pair, OFMD featured them in episode 4 of season 2. They were a perfectly unhinged and chaotic couple of former pirates who open an antique shop.
Edward “Ned” Low
(Max)
Ned Low (played by Bronson Pinchot) showed up looking to settle a score with Blackbeard. After Blackbeard broke his record of ships taken, Low had to get revenge and torture the other pirate. The show frames Low as a sadistic man who gets joy out of hurting and murdering other people. From several sources, it seems like the real Ned Low had the same hobby. The historical New Low didn’t have the musical connection as he did in the show, but he still was one of the cruelest pirates around. One account claimed he cut off a man’s lips, cooked them, and then made the man eat his own lips. Another story said he made a ship’s crew eat their captain’s heart. This guy was twisted. Unlike many of the other pirates, stories of his death conflict. No one knows exactly what happened to him. He may have been hanged, murdered, imprisoned, or died of old age. He probably wasn’t killed by Stede Bonnet, but who knows?
Hell-Cat Maggie
When Ned Low’s crew arrived in OFMD, one of them said her name was Hell-Cat Maggie. There are no pirates in recorded history with the name Hell-Cat Maggie. However, in the mid-1800s, there was a member of the Irish gang of the Dead Rabbits that had that name. She was an outlaw and fought against other gangs. In another life, she could have perfectly blended in as a pirate. Cameron Diaz’s character in The Gangs of New York was partially inspired by her.
This piece was written during the 2023 SAG-AFTRA strike. Without the labor of the actors currently on strike, the work being covered here wouldn’t exist.
