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.

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.