Save “Our Flag Means Death” – Another Great Gay Series On The Chopping Block
Max’s Our Flag Means Death (OFMD) is a queer historical-comedy series set in the Golden Era Of Piracy. The series has amassed a loyal and vocal fanbase who have taken to protesting the show’s cancellation.
The series was cancelled by HBO’s Max platform after only two seasons via a statement released in January 2024 that thanked the cast, crew and the fans for their loyalty.
Flags at halfmast
The series created by David Jenkins has been lauded for its inclusion of queer romance and witty storylines retelling the history of piracy. The cast is an all-stars lineup led by Taika Waititi and Rhys Darby with Garrett Basch, Dan Halsted, Adam Stein and Antoine Douaihy.
Max announces this series cancellation after the conclusion of a successful second season. The first season of OFMD had a ten episode run, but production on the second saw a move to New Zealand and a truncated eight episode run that many fans took as a bad omen.
According to The Hollywood Reporter, OFMD had stellar ratings boasting a 94 percent score among critics and 93 percent rating with viewers on Rotten Tomatoes. Why then would the series not be picked up for further seasons? The same could be asked of a number of series that hold strong fanbases but fail to launch beyond one or two seasons. Since HBO’s merger with Warner Bros Discovery, several popular series were scrapped including Minx, Love Life, Westworld, Gossip Girl and Doom Patrol.
According to Variety, an exhaustive look into the major streaming platforms reveals a combined average cancellation rate of 12.2% across Netflix, Hulu, Disney+, Amazon Prime Video, Max, Apple TV+, Peacock and Paramount+. Max alone has an average cancellation rate of 26.9%.
Streamers receive criticism for their perceived flippancy with cancelling series; especially considering most aren’t given the time to amass stronger audiences and engagement. Gone are the days of 12 season arcs with 24 episodes per season. An industry standard of eight-episode runs has become the norm which means, unfortunately for shows like OFMD, the end comes too soon for fans.
Fans met the news of OFMD being cancelled with a hardy campaign to get it picked up again. According to The Guardian, fans raised more than USD21,000 for a campaign which purchased a billboard in Times Square and a plane to fly over Hollywood with a banner reading “Save Our Flag Means Death”. Efforts by loyal stans have been effective in the past; just recall Brooklyn 99’s survival or the success of the Veronica Mars movie.
Fans have heard no news of the series being picked up elsewhere, and for now they have the sweet sentiments of show creator Jenkins who posted a poignant farewell: “I’m very sad I won’t set foot on the Revenge again with my friends, some of whom have become close to family. But I couldn’t be more grateful for being allowed to captain the damn thing in the first place.”
