On the fourth and final season of the Starz drama series Black Sails, Eleanor Guthrie (Hannah New) has helped Woodes Rogers (Luke Roberts) transform Nassau into an impenetrable fortress while Captain Flint (Toby Stephens) amasses a fleet of unprecedented strength, in the hopes of striking the final blow against civilization. But the closer they come to defeat, the more they fight back, setting Flint, John Silver (Luke Arnold) and their allies up for inevitable defeat.

During this exclusive phone interview with Collider, actor Toby Stephens (who has given a tremendous and emotionally nuanced performance as Captain Flint) talked about how everybody put everything on the line when it came to making Black Sails, what he’ll miss most about the experience, just how dark and tragic things are going to get, the grueling and extensive action sequences, and why he didn’t take anything from the set. He also talked about already signing on to make the Netflix revival of Lost in Space, playing a complex character in a more modern reworking, and how it’s equally as epic, but in a different way. Be aware that there are some spoilers discussed.

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Image via Starz

Collider: I’m simultaneously very bummed to be talking to you about the final season of Black Sails and very excited about how amazing this season looks!

TOBY STEPHENS: Good, I’m glad you’re excited!

This show has undoubtedly pushed the limits of what a TV show can do, and it’s been a massive undertaking, for four seasons. Looking back on it, what are you most proud of having been able to accomplish with this show?

STEPHENS: I think it’s the fact that everybody put everything on the line. Starz really put themselves behind this, financially. The creators really wrote and created such an amazing show. The production standards were amazing. All of the actors turned up, every day, and gave it their all. It’s been such a great ride, in terms of the fact that we’ve made such a complex show that is very satisfying, in so many different ways. It’s a complicated story with complex characters, that takes place against this very complex backdrop of history. It’s been such a great ride.

What do you think you’ll miss most, not just with the experience of making this show, but with getting to live in this guy’s shoes?

STEPHENS: I think I’ll miss the comraderie of it all, with the writers and creators, Jonathan [Steinberg], Robert [Levine] and Dan [Shotz]. I loved working with them and working with their material, and working with all of the actors on set. That really was the most enjoyable stuff, and that’s what makes Flint work. Flint lived within the context of the show. It’s been so brilliant, bringing him to life, in that context and with all of those people helping me to do it.

What can you say about Captain Flint’s story this season and where things are headed for him? Just how dark are things going to get?

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Image via Starz

STEPHENS: Well, we know that it’s tragedy because the revolution and the emancipation that Flint wants didn’t happen. And Silver ends up being this tragic figure in Treasure Island, who connives his way back to Treasure Island, and then ends up not even getting the treasure at the end of that. And the Golden Age of Piracy ended, so we know that it doesn’t end well. It’s just about, how does it end? This season really is the endgame for all of that. It’s also about the relationship between Silver and Flint, and how that plays out. What happens to Flint, and how does Silver become Long John Silver of Treasure Island?

Do you think that Flint’s goal or quest has changed, at this point?

STEPHENS: The thing about Flint is that he’s playing out his own psycho-drama on a massive canvas. It’s motivated not by altruistic reasons of wanting to emancipate all these people. It’s really that he wants revenge on England for doing what it did to him. What started out as a loose ambition of, “Oh, we’ll just have skirmishes on the edge of it and slap them in the face, once in awhile,” has become something that could possibly actually rock the world. It’s become something that has scale and could be something that compromises England, in a serious way, but that doesn’t happen, for whatever reason. It’s gone from being a dream to something that could be reality, before that reality is smashed, for whatever reason.

Is there anyone that you’d say is truly loyal to Flint, and is there anyone he’s truly loyal to?

STEPHENS: Yeah, there is a character that ends up being truly loyal to Flint, and it’s wonderful. In the last few episodes, one of the characters comes into the fore that’s been in the background, and it’s interesting to see what happens there.

Black Sails is wrapping up this season, but you’re going off to do the Netflix reboot of Lost in Space.

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Image via Starz

STEPHENS: Yeah, it’s gonna be a lot of fun and very different from Black Sails. What’s nice is that I’m playing a complex character, but somebody who’s, in a way, a lot more simplistic than Flint. He’s just in a very difficult situation.

We’ve heard that this reboot is pretty dark and not too much like the original show. Is it a fair assessment to say that it will be very different from what fans of the original are familiar with?

STEPHENS: It’s a very clever, modern reworking of a great story. Lost in Space is Swiss Family Robinson in space, so it was a story that existed before Lost in Space. The fundamental story is that it’s a family that is lost in a difficult, life-threatening situation and how it challenges them and brings them closer together. That is essentially what the story of this is, it’s just the context is a lot more modern. It’s a more modern take on the ‘60s version. If you look at it now, it’s charming, but it seems so innocent. Whereas this is a version that is for our time. I’m hoping it will still have humor and humanity in it, but it has obviously gotta be for a modern audience.

Is it as massive as what you did with Black Sails, or is it massive on a different scale?

STEPHENS: I think it’s equally as big, just in a different way. It’s spaceships and planets that aren’t like ours and spacesuits. It’s going to be really fun like that.

When Black Sails was done, did you take anything from the set, or did you not want to do that?

STEPHENS: No, I didn’t, and I never wanted to. In a way, I carry Flint in my head, and I carry the experience in my head. I didn’t want to do that. I’ve done it on other jobs. I’ve taken little bits and pieces to remember them by, but they end up gathering dust on a shelf, and you end up throwing them away, after awhile. I didn’t want to do that with this. I just want to hold it in my head, really. It will be one of those memories that I’ll always come back to and go, “That was a wonderful experience.” It was one of those things where I had to constantly remind myself how lucky I was to be involved in the whole thing because there were times where I was incredibly tired and fed up with it all. It was just a really tough job, but then, you look at it and go, “Yeah, but I am incredibly lucky to be doing what I want to do, in this job, working with such great people and on such a wonderful character.

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Image via Starz

Over the seasons, there have been times where you’ve been beaten up a bit, with the action and stunt sequences. Is there much of that, this season?

STEPHENS: Yeah, there’s a load of that, and it was really grueling and tough for everybody. I have two legs. Poor Luke Arnold had to do it with crutches. It’s really tough. The costumes, the heat, and all of that stuff made it really brutal. And it was constantly shifting and changes, so the challenges were always shifting and changing. One season, it was doing a massive hurricane sequence, where you’re two weeks on a boat with people spraying water in your face. And then, the next time, you have a massive battle in the woods. And then, you have a massive battle on the sea and you have to grapple with getting on to other boats. It was constantly shifting and changing, and on top of that, you had loads of dialogue and acting to do, as well, which is incredibly satisfying, but also very taxing.

Were there ever any scenes or stunts you wanted to do or wished you could do, but you couldn’t, and they had to bring the stuntman in?

STEPHENS: No, I was always really happy when they brought the stuntman in. I was like, “Thank god, I don’t have to do that!” By the end, it was like, “Get the stunt guy in! I can’t do that!” All of the fights that we did, they always put in the stunt guy to do certain shots, but you’d end up having to do like 99% of it yourself. There weren’t really that many things that I didn’t actually do. I wish there’d been more!

Black Sails airs on Sunday nights on Starz.

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