Our Flag Means Death: Rhys Darby Breaks Down Stede’s Big Kill

The second season of Our Flag Means Death was a big one for Stede Bonnett (Rhys Darby) who managed to improve upon his pirate skills, which were notoriously abysmal throughout the first season. Stede even managed his first kill, and it was with a rather unusual weapon. Ned Low (Bronson Pinchot) attempted to overtake the Revenge while the crew was in the midst of celebrating Calypso’s birthday. Ned shared some harsh words towards Ed/Blackbeard (Taika Waititi) which was the final straw for Stede. He made Ned walk the plank and ended up chucking a violin at his head, causing him to fall to his death. ComicBook.com recently had the chance to chat with Darby, and we asked about the violin and how many times he had to throw it. 

“So it was a soft violin,” Darby explained. “It was a fake one, and I threw it quite a few times because it wasn’t an actual violin, it didn’t throw as well. And I don’t know how many people have thrown a violin at a target, but it’s a weird shape, it doesn’t float through the air perfectly. And yeah, I’m pretty sure that either he was actually there or there was someone there that I was throwing it at. I was definitely throwing it at someone. So it must’ve been him, and I think it’s because it was soft and we needed to get the shot of it actually hitting him. So yeah, it was definitely about five times.” 

Rhys Darby Shares Hopes For OFMD Season 3:

Warning: Spoilers Ahead! Things ended happily for Stede and Blackbeard in the finale of Our Flag Means Death. They decided to leave the pirate life behind and open an inn. However, Darby doesn’t think that life is going to last long. In fact, he spoke to ComicBook.com about some ideas of what Stede and Ed could be getting up to in a potential third season. 

“It’s a difficult one,” Darby began. “I don’t know where they’re going to go next if they carry on, because Stede has definitely had the ultimate journey. And I think there’s moments where he must be pinching himself, ‘This can’t be right.’ And I think when I think of these two characters, who are now very famous pirates in this region who think they’re going to pull off being able to just open an inn and have a nice life, they’re kidding themselves. And I think they’re in this amazing honeymoon period where they’re now going, ‘Okay, we’ve basically gone through all of this tough stuff and together, and our relationship is at a point where we can actually now relax.’ I think that’s when they’re going to have their hardest time because they’ve never had that before. And so that in itself would be fun to explore. How are they going to be together like this?”

He continued, “Is it going to work? And then at the back of their minds, they’ve got to be thinking, ‘Wait a minute, aren’t we real badass pirates? The British are not going to give up.’ Everyone gets killed or taken in if you’re a pirate in those days. So that, and the other element that I think Stede would be really missing – both of them – but particularly Stede, would be that he’s seeing his family float off. Those are his new people, those people that really, that he loves and almost like his kids. And I think he’s going to be worried, not that he’s ever worried about his kids, but these people who I believe he has a connection to, and he feels responsible for them in some way, that they’re going to have danger. As soon as you see that pirate ship head off, you think, ‘Right well, it’s literally a pirate ship, so it’s going to be attacked at some point.’ Now. Luckily, it’s got some real kick-ass people on there now that are going to be more capable than he is.”

Our Flag Means Death is now streaming on Max. Stay tuned for more from our interviews with the show’s cast.