Starz has announced a premiere date and unveiled the first poster for the Michael Bay-produced pirate drama series Black Sails.  The show takes place 20 years before the events of Robert Louis Stevenson’s classic novel Treasure Island and centers on Captain Flint (the deceased pirate who literally put the treasure in Treasure Island) and a young Long John Silver as they fight for the defense of notorious criminal haven New Providence Island.  The series has been slated for a January 2014 premiere, and it should make for a nice pairing with the network’s period-centric Da Vinci’s Demons, which premiered to successful ratings earlier this year and has already been renewed for a second season.

Hit the jump to check out the first poster and two teaser videos for Black Sails, and click here to watch the debut trailer.  The series stars Toby Stephens, Luke Arnold, Zach McGowan, Toby Schmitz, Hannah New, Jessica Parker Kennedy, Clara Paget, and Tom Hopper.

Starz recently launched the new drama series Da Vinci’s Demons from executive producer David Goyer, but today the network has unveiled a first look at one of its other new shows set to debut in 2014: Black Sails.  Executive produced by Michael Bay, the drama series takes place 20 years before the events of Robert Louis Stevenson’s classic novel Treasure Island and centers on Captain Flint (the deceased pirate who literally put the treasure in Treasure Island) and a young Long John Silver as they fight for the defense of notorious criminal haven New Providence Island.  Based on this early trailer, it’s very clear that the show is influenced by the monster success of HBO’s Game of Thrones.  Black Sails does promise to have a swell production value, but it’s too early to tell how fascinating the characters are.  Since filming is still underway in Cape Town, South Africa, this footage is likely from the pilot, which was directed by Neil Marshall (The Descent).

Hit the jump to watch the trailer.  The series was created by showrunner and executive producer Jon Steinberg (Jericho), and stars Toby Stevens as Flint and Luke Arnold as the young Silver.  The eight-episode first season of Black Sails will premiere on Starz sometime in 2014.

STARZ handed out a few announcements today for the following shows:

• The premiere of Da Vinci’s Demons will be Friday, April 12, 2013 at 9pm ET/PT.  The network also released a new trailer for the series from David S. Goyer (co-writer of The Dark Knight Trilogy) starring Tom Riley (Monroe).
• The second season of Magic City, featuring the addition of James Caan (The Godfather), can also be previewed in a new trailer.
• The new series Black Sails, produced by Michael Bay and Platinum Dunes with Neil Marshall (Game of Thrones) set to direct the first episode, has officially begun production in Cape Town, South Africa.

Hit the jump to watch the trailers for Da Vinci’s Demons and Magic City, along with the press release for Black Sails.

After making his television directorial debut for HBO’s Game of Thrones episode, “Blackwater,” Neil Marshall (The Descent) will now direct the pilot for Black Sails.  The eight-episode Starz series is a prequel to Treasure Island that follows the swashbuckling exploits of Captain Flint and his crew.  Michael Bay is also on board to executive produce the project, which was created by Jon Steinberg and Robert Levine.  If Marshall’s prowess at handling “The Battle of the Blackwater” is any indication, we should be in for some high seas adventure in Black Sails.  Hit the jump for more.

As part of the Starz portion of the TCA Press Tour, President and CEO Chris Albrecht took some time to talk about the shows they currently have in production, and what their upcoming slate will look like.  During the interview, he spoke about how they decide what original programming will be done for Starz and what will be done for Encore, the production challenges of the Michael Bay pirate series Black Sails (currently in pre-production in South Africa), how they came to the decision to end Spartacus, their desire to continue to work with that show’s creator Steven DeKnight, and when Black Sails, Da Vinci’s Demons, Marco Polo and Noir could hit the air.  Check out what he had to say after the jump.

With the Spartacus series continuing to anchor its original programming, Starz has ordered another blood-and-boobs historical epic to series in the form of the Michael Bay-produced Black Sails. Set to film in South Africa, the tentatively titled show is a prequel to Robert Louis Stevenson’s classic pirate tale Treasure Island. It will take place 20 years before the events of the novel, following Captain Flint (the deceased pirate who literally put the treasure in Treasure Island) and a young Long John Silver as they buckle swash in defense of “notorious criminal haven” New Providence Island. Hit the jump for more, including a full press release.