Black Sails is currently streaming in Australia on Stan and Lionsgate+ Amazon Channels, and in the US on Philo and Starz Apple TV Channel, and it earns its set pieces rather than just delivering them. The 4-season run is exactly the right length for what it is doing. With 1,482 viewer ratings on TMDB, this is not a title flying under the radar. No filler scenes, no spinning wheels between the action. Put it on tonight on Stan and see for yourself.

Part of the current wave of titles people are actually watching, Black Sails earns its spot. The set pieces are impressive, but it is the story underneath them that gives Black Sails its staying power. The pirate adventures of Captain Flint and his men twenty years prior to Robert Louis Stevenson’s classic “Treasure Island.” Flint, the most brilliant and most feared pirate captain of his day, takes on a fast-talking young addition to his crew who goes by the name John Silver. Threatened with extinction on all sides, they fight for the survival of New Providence Island, the most notorious criminal haven of its day – a debauched paradise teeming with pirates, prostitutes, thieves and fortune seekers, a place defined by both its enlightened ideals and its stunning brutality. Toby Stephens and Luke Arnold lead a cast that earns every set piece rather than just filling it. Across 4 seasons (2014–2017), it never lost the thread that made it worth starting. Black Sails earns its bigger moments by making you care about the outcome before it happens. The hit rate here is high enough that skipping ahead never feels like an option.

Action fans who want craft and story alongside the spectacle will find exactly that in Black Sails. Crossbones is the obvious comparison, but Black Sails earns its own place alongside it. It is a manageable watch, easy to fit into a single week. Toby Stephens brings a physicality to the role that elevates every set piece. Action that earns its sequences rather than just delivering them.

Black Sails wrapped up in 2017, created by Robert Levine and Jonathan E. Steinberg — and 4 seasons are available to watch from start to finish. Find exactly where it's streaming below, and TV Butler Pro makes it effortless to track your progress as you go. Just search the name, and Butler finds it instantly, tells you which service has it, and remembers exactly where you left off.