The Big Picture
- The new season of Our Flag Means Death brings changes to the characters and their crews, including new outfits and a haircut inspired by fan art.
- Series creator David Jenkins brought the idea of Jim’s new hairstyle to the hair and makeup designer, who gradually created the final look.
- In the latest episode, Blackbeard must decide between life and death, while The Revenge crew rebels against Zheng and regains control of their ship.
The new season of Our Flag Means Death has officially premiered, bringing some big and small changes with it. This season follows Stede and Blackbeard as they cope with their heartbreak and journey across the high seas. Both men’s crews also saw some changes, as Stede’s is down a few and Blackbeard recruited two more — former Revenge members Frenchie and Jim. With the pair’s new allegiance, new outfits were in order. Jim in particular also got a new haircut — and it’s all thanks to fan art.
During an interview with Collider’s Carly Lane, Our Flag Means Death hair and makeup designer Nancy Hennah talked a bit about how fan art of Jim (Vico Ortiz) became a major inspiration for their haircut in Season 2. Series creator David Jenkins initially brought the idea to Hennah, showing both her and Ortiz art that would guide Jim’s new ‘do. Once everyone was on board, Hennah shared a bit of the process that went into creating the final haircut in the season — and that Ortiz had to be careful when they shared photos of themselves on social media so as not to spoil the surprise.
“[W]e were just in our prep phase, and David had seen some fan art of Vico [Ortiz] with this really cool hairstyle, and he was like, ‘Look at this, this is amazing. What if we think about doing something like this this season?’ And he talked to Vico about it and Vico was really keen on it, and so that was our inspiration. We did that haircut incrementally. We put their hair up and then shaped the sides, but we just eeked it up higher and higher, just to get the exact right balance of that. I love that hairstyle, but Vico had to be super careful about it because whenever they were posting on their social media or anything, they had to wear a hat for months so nobody would know about this haircut!”
Where Did ‘Our Flag Means Death’ Season 2, Episode 3 Leave Viewers?
The most current episode of Season 2 picked up with Blackbeard (Taika Waititi) caught in a purgatory of sorts following Episode 2. So, already feeling miserable about everything else, he had to decide whether he wanted to find his way back to the world of the living, or succumb to his injuries. Ultimately, a revelation about himself and the desperate pleas of a living Stede (Rhys Darby) pushed Jim to opt for the former option. Meanwhile, The Revenge crew was fully reunited, although Zheng sentenced the ones working with Blackbeard to death. So, what else is there to do but rebel — which is exactly what The Revenge crew did, taking back their ship.
New episodes of Our Flag Means Death Season 2 release weekly in pairs every Thursday. The season finale airs on October 26.
