Yo ho, yo ho, it's a pirate's life for the entire United States. A new report from Business Insider has revealed that the new HBO Max series Our Flag Means Death, which follows the exploits of an eccentric group of pirates, is currently the most popular new series in the United States.

The first season of the series concluded last week and was the top new series in the United States for the past one hundred days, according to the report. The series was also the eleventh most in-demand show in the US and worldwide, an impressive accomplishment for a series that isn't based on an established franchise or property. The success of the series, at least partially, however, lies with the involvement of filmmaker Taika Waititi, who has previously been involved in the similarly comedic series What We Do in the Shadows, based on the 2013 film of the same name.

However, while Waititi has stepped back from What We Do in the Shadows, he has stepped into Our Flag Means Death, playing none other than the infamous pirate Blackbeard himself. Of the news regarding the series' success, Waititi tweeted cheekily, "In a tragic turn of events... HBO Max's 'Our Flag Means Death' is the biggest new series in the US right now." He also linked Business Insider's write-up of the series' impressive streaming numbers.

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Image Via HBO

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Series creator David Jenkins said of the impressive ratings, "[t]his is what happens when a major media company invests in inclusive mainstream stories." And Jenkins is not alone in this view. Our Flag Means Death has been praised for its wealth of queer storylines, which don't tokenize their queer characters or shy away from actual romantic plotlines. The romantic plot between Waititi's Blackbeard and the series protagonist Stede Bonnet, played by Rhys Darby, carried much of the series' major tension and was not shied away from or obscured.

There has been no word on whether HBO will renew the series for a second season, however the ratings are nothing short of encouraging. The series has also been a hit with critics as well, garnering an 89% critics approval score on Rotten Tomatoes. Our Flag Means Death also has an impressive 94% approval rating from audiences on Rotten Tomatoes.

And if you need to revisit the swashbuckling score of seafaring scallywags, you can stream the entire first season of Our Flag Means Death on HBO Max. And you can check out Taika Waititi's tweet regarding the series' ratings success below: