and you’re like ‘UH YEA, sign me up! Call my on my personal line plllllease.’ And that’s exactly what happened. Thanks to the lovely team at Starz, I got to chat with Luke Arnold for a bit about the upcoming FINAL (waaaah!) season of Black Sails that premieres THIS Sunday, January 29th.
Of course I had to bring up that time at Comic Con a few years back when I got to ask Luke what the “Long” in Long John Silver meant… cue all the naughty giggles back then but after last season I was excited to ask him about the big reveal!
Nikki: What was it like reading the scene and going to be able to finally reveal what the Long in Long John Silver means and share that story that’s so important to your character?
Luke: That scene is just a gift. You’re gonna walk into a tavern, do a monologue and then stomp on the head of the character that everyone really wants to see die right now, it doesn’t get much better. And at the end of it to also going to get to say the line that starts the nickname, it was just everything I could have wanted. The great thing about the evolution of the Treasure Island characters are all things you never would have guessed, they’re organic and come out of the world around them.
Luke: I just finished watching Season 4 and because of how rich the writing has been, how thoughtful the characterizations… by the time we get to the end, the history that sits with every character is just amazing and has been crafted in such a beautiful way.
And because I’m a shipper and inquiring minds wants to know…
Nikki: Are we going to get to see more John and Madi, will there be any payoff to what started in Season 3 between them?
Luke: Look, I could always go into spoiler territory, but… it’s absolutely a huge part of Silver’s story is his relationship with Madi. I think they shared the burden of being young leaders, whereas John is the product of a sort of pirate democracy, Madi comes from a monarchy and is a leader by birth and in a lot of ways does things better than the pirates which is really interesting having them next to each other, he can learn about being a leader through her. They’re two young leaders together but in the weeks between (episodes) three and four… you very quickly get the sense that that relationship has evolved.
I take that answer as we have verra good odds at some Madi/John action this season. Beyond being super sad this amazing show is over, I’m so excited to see where they take these characters and this story. If this clip from the first episode is any indication, we’re in for a great ride:
And if you still need convincing (you don’t) to tune in, read my piece (here) on how Black Sails is one of the best shows on TV for being SO woke.
Thanks to Starz and Luke Arnold for giving us a few minutes of their day to chat about one of our favorite shows! Tune in this Sunday, January 1/29 at 9PM ET/PT for the fourth and final (amazing, no doubt) season of Black Sails.
