Here's a guide to where pirate series Black Sails was shot. While pirate movies were eventually DOA before the success of 2003's Pirates Of The Caribbean: Curse Of The Black Pearl, that blockbuster series led to something of a revival for the genre. Given the franchise's PG-13, blockbuster leanings they couldn't really portray the grittier, nastier side of pirate life though, which is where Black Sails comes in.

Black Sails is a historical action/adventure TV series from Starz that acts as a prequel to Robert Louis Stevenson's classic Treasure Island, which reveals the origin of Long John Silver, played on the show by Luke Arnold. Michael Bay was an executive producer on the show, which dealt with a treasure hunt in the first season before expanding the scope with each series, including an epic conflict between the protagonists and the British Empire. Black Sails featured a great cast and bloody battles and came to an end with season 4 in 2017.

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Black Sails benefitted from a real air of authenticity when it came to its depiction of pirate life, which includes its portrayal of New Providence in The Bahamas and other locations such as Tortuga and, later on in the show, London. Of course, a lot has changed since the so-called Golden Age Of Piracy, so the production essentially had to start from scratch. It never filmed in New Providence either, with the show being shot primarily in Cape Town, South Africa.

Nassau in Black Sails

The production shot at Cape Town Film Studio - as did the likes of Outlander and Mad Max: Fury Road - and it took four months and hundreds of crew members to build the Nassau Island set. The studio even built large water tanks to house the two ships used for the sailing sequences, which were recreated using blueprints from that period. Cape Town also offered the production a variety of terrain for scenes set outside the usual sets, such as the forested Maroon Island introduced in season three.

Even wintery Philadelphia, which the show visits towards the end of Black Sails season 4, was recreated in Cape Town Film Studios. From the landscapes through to the sets and crew available, Cape Town proved to be the perfect place to film the series. While Black Sails ended in 2017 there's been reports of potential spinoffs, with fans hoping to see a series that will actually tackle Treasure Island. There don't currently appear to be any plans to bring the show back, however.

Next: What Black Sails Season 5 Would Have Been About