HBO Has Just Renewed Taika Waititi and Rhys Darby's 'Our Flag Means Death' for a Second Season

Has anyone had a better year so far than Taika Waititi? Likely not. 2022 hasn't even officially hit its halfway point yet and he's already been everywhere, doing everything, and has more to come. He was the subject of the Archibald's Packing Room Prize-winner, with his likeness now an award-worthy piece of art. He has that little Marvel movie called Thor: Love and Thunder in the works, set to hit cinemas in early July. Oh, and he went and co-starred in one of the best new TV shows of the year so far — and that series, Our Flag Means Death, has just been renewed for a second run.

No, Taika's time playing a pirate isn't over yet, in supremely welcome news for everyone who sailed through Our Flag Means Death's glorious first season. His latest team-up with fellow New Zealand comedian Rhys Darby (after also working together on Flight of the Conchords, What We Do in the Shadows, Wellington Paranormal and Hunt for the Wilderpeople), it's a swashbuckling comedy that satirises the buccaneering times of the 18th century. As its first season unfurled, Our Flag Means Death also proved to be a sweet and warmhearted romance, as well as essential viewing.

HBO clearly agrees, greenlighting the show's second season for its streaming service HBO Max. Exactly when it'll return has yet to be revealed, but fingers crossed that it'll cruise back into your queue — via Binge and in New Zealand via Neon — sometime in 2023.

"We felt the show was special while we were making it, but fans' open-armed embrace of the inhabitants of the Revenge makes heading into a second season all the more sweet," said writer, showrunner and executive producer David Jenkins (People of Earth), who conjured up Our Flag Means Death.

Based on its concept and cast alone, his series was always going to cement its spot on streaming must-see lists — and speed into comedy-lovers' hearts — and now it'll make a return voyage.

If you haven't hopped aboard already, Our Flag Means Death stars Darby stars as Stede Bonnet, a self-styled 'gentleman pirate', a great approximation of Flight of the Conchords' Murray if he'd existed centuries earlier, and a man determined to bring a bit of kindness and elegancy to the whole swashbuckling game. He's based on an IRL figure, who abandoned his cosy life for a seafaring existence. The show is a loose adaptation of Bonnet's tale, though.

As for Waititi, he dons leather, dark hues aplenty, an air of bloodthirsty melancholy and a glorious head of greying hair as Edward Teach — the marauder better known to the world as Blackbeard. Also featuring among the show's impressive lineup of supporting characters: Lucius (Nathan Foad, Bloods), Bonnet's righthand man and official scribe; Buttons (Ewen Bremner, First Cow), a seasoned seafarer and source of advice; Black Pete (Matthew Maher, Marriage Story), who constantly claims to have worked with Blackbeard; the fire-obsessed Wee John Feeny (Kristian Nairn, aka Game of Thrones' Hodor); and the initially secretive Oluwande (Samson Kayo, Truth Seekers) and Jim (Vico Ortiz, The Sex Lives of College Girls).

Check out the full trailer for Our Flag Means Death below:

Our Flag Means Death will return for a second season, with a release date yet to be announced. Our Flag Means Death's first season is available to in Australia via Binge and in New Zealand via Neon. Read our full review.

Images: Aaron Epstein/HBO Max.