English actor Toby Stephens is dropping anchor as the lead in Starz’s pirate drama “Black Sails,” from producer Michael Bay.
Set to premiere on Starz in 2014, “Black Sails” is a prequel-of-sorts to the Robert Louis Stevenson classic “Treasure Island.”
The eight-episode first season will feature Stephens as Flint, feared pirate captain and commander of the Walrus. As the story begins, Flint’s crew adds a young stranger by the name of John Silver and you kinda know where things go from there.
Jon Steinberg (“Jericho”) produced for Bay’s Platinum Dunes. The series will shoot in Cape Town, South Africa beginning later this year. [At the Television Critics Association press tour in August, Starz chief Chris Albrecht discussed “Black Sails,” among other upcoming projects.]
Credits for Stephens includes BBC’s “Jane Eyre” and features including “Orlando,” “Die Another Day” and “Space Cowboys.”
Stephens’ most recent project for American TV was a role on NBC’s “Prime Suspect,” a part that was subsequently recast and largely written out of the short-lived drama.