Taika Waititi says wearing Blackbeard's facial hair was "very annoying" in new show Our Flag Means Death

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The pirate comedy is out now on HBO Max

Taika Waititi in Our Flag Means Death
(Image credit: HBO)

Taika Waititi is back on our screens as infamous pirate in the new TV show Our Flag Means Death, which is part swashbuckling pirate tale and part workplace comedy. However, filming the series didn't come without its challenges.

"It was very annoying to wear the beard and the wig," Waititi told Entertainment Weekly. "No one ever likes it. Also, you can't have a real conversation with someone because all the glue keeps your whole face tight, and as soon as you actually smile properly, it breaks all the glue and things start peeling off."

Set in the early 18th Century, Our Flag Means Death is (very) loosely based on the true adventures of Stede Bonnet (played by Waititi's Flight of the Conchords collaborator Rhys Darby), a moderately wealthy landowner who suffers a midlife crisis and becomes captain of Revenge, a pirate ship.

Garrett Basch, whose previous projects include What We Do in the Shadows (the FX series based on Waititi's 2014 movie of the same name) and The Night Of starring Riz Ahmed, is also an executive producer. Meanwhile, David Jenkins is on board as showrunner – he previously helmed sci-fi comedy series People of Earth, about a support group for people who have been abducted by aliens.

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Emily Garbutt
Entertainment Writer

I’m an Entertainment Writer here at GamesRadar+, covering everything film and TV-related across the Total Film and SFX sections. I help bring you all the latest news and also the occasional feature too. I’ve previously written for publications like HuffPost and i-D after getting my NCTJ Diploma in Multimedia Journalism.