There's One Our Flag Means Death Scene That Was 'Horrific' To Film

It's been over a year since "Our Flag Means Death" first took the internet by storm with a swashbuckling, silly, and surprisingly romantic first season. In the time since it first premiered last spring, the Max original series has developed a fervent fan base, thanks in large part to its portrayal of a sweet queer love story between two middle-aged men — who also happen to be pirates.

The cast of "Our Flag Means Death" attended a panel in celebration of the series at last week's OutFronts, a virtual festival from the folks behind Outfest that celebrates all things LGBTQ+ media. /Film was in attendance for the pre-recorded panel discussion, which featured actors Rhys Darby, Taika Waititi (who also directed the show's pilot), Vico Ortiz, Nathan Foad, and Con O'Neill. There, Darby spoke about how it felt to get into character as The Gentlemen Pirate Stede Bonnet and opened up about a dizzyingly dreadful day of filming that helped make Stede's first meet-cute with Ed "Blackbeard" Teach (Waititi) feel all the more real.

"I'll never forget when you arrived on the ship, that moment," Darby told Waititi after the two joked about how Stede's bow-clad shoes and "beautifully gay outfit" contrasted with Ed's style (which Waititi describes as "from Tom of Finland"). The scene in question takes place in the show's third episode, and it's a breathless first meeting that follows a surprisingly violent sequence. By now, it's clear that Stede is a pretty abysmal pirate, and after being attacked by a crew led by guest star Fred Armisen, he finds himself stabbed and strung up. Stede's about to be hung while his crew mates fight for their lives, and he slowly spins around on the rope to witness the carnage.

"I'd been hung for a number of what felt like hours spinning around," Darby explained at Outfronts. "I mean, I had a harness on but it was one of the most horrific things I've had to do as an actor is just spin around with a thing around my neck and watch as people are killing each other." The scene itself is at once gruesome and comical: Darby pulls some comedic faces, but he also looks pale and sickly as Stede's life — particularly his dissatisfying yet safe marriage to a woman named Mary (Claudia O'Doherty) — flashes before his eyes. Just as he's about to dip out of consciousness, Blackbeard boards the ship and cuts Stede down, striking an extremely cool tough guy pose as he confirms his identity: "The Gentleman Pirate, I presume?"

Darby says Waititi's appearance after the stunt shoot felt like being rescued. "Then I get dropped down and then there's just that really huge moment when Blackbeard arrives and walks along and then bends over and sort of looks at me," he recalls. "Yeah, that's a big moment because I mean, I see I didn't see my friend Taika, I saw this very good-looking but evil, kind of bad boy, but he was rescuing me." Waititi and Darby have been friends for decades and worked together on several great projects, including "What We Do In The Shadows" and "Hunt For The Wilderpeople."

After an immersive shoot that sounds like a total ordeal, though, it was apparently easy for Darby to get in Stede's headspace. "All of a sudden, there was this connection of chemistry that is hard to explain," he says, describing Waititi's first appearance after the hanging scene, "but it just felt really real." It's a connection fans can clearly feel too, as they eagerly await the show's return (and the announcement of a return date) on Max.