Taika Waititi's HBO Max pirate comedy series adds six new cast members

HBO Max series Our Flag Means Death has added six new actors to its cast – Kristian Nairn, Nathan Foad, Samson Kayo, Rory Kinnear, Con O’Neill, and Vico Ortiz are all joining Taika Waititi and Rhys Darby in the upcoming pirate comedy show. 

Nairn, who is best known for playing gentle giant Hodor in Game of Thrones, will appear as a character called Wee John Feeney, while Kinnear, who has appeared in movies like The Imitation Game and several James Bond titles, will play the dual roles of Captain Nigel Badminton and Chauncey Badminton. O'Neill (Chernobyl) will play Izzy, Foad (Bloods) will play Lucius, Kayo (Truth Seekers) will play Oluwande, and Ortiz (American Horror Story) will play Bonifacia. As for who these characters actually are, that remains to be seen.

Set in the early 18th Century, Our Flag Means Death will be loosely based on the true adventures of Stede Bonnet (played by Darby), a moderately wealthy landowner who suffers a midlife crisis and becomes captain of Revenge, a pirate ship. Waititi will play infamous pirate Blackbeard in the series, as well as executive producing and directing the pilot.

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.

Waititi and Darby previously worked together on the HBO series Flight of the Conchords, about two shepherds-turned-musicians from New Zealand – Darby starred as the band's manager, while Waititi wrote and directed the sitcom. More recently, Waititi has been busy directing the MCU sequel Thor: Love and Thunder, and he has acting roles in the upcoming movies Free Guy and The Suicide Squad (although his character in the latter has yet to be disclosed). 

Our Flag Means Death doesn't have a release date yet, but while we wait for the show to arrive on HBO Max you can fill out your watch list with our picks of the best TV shows of 2020.