Jack Rackham and Anne Bonny, two of Black Sails‘ pirates who are based on real people, have a much happier ending in fiction than in reality. Starz’s pirate show was conceived as a prequel to Robert Louis Stevenson’s Treasure Island, meaning Black Sails‘ cast includes actors playing fictional characters like Captain James Flint and Captain John Silver. Black Sails not only changes Treasure Island as a result of this, but it also marks some deviations from real-world history.
The reason for this surrounds Black Sails‘ involvement of real pirates in a fictional story, from the likes of Charles Vane to Edward Teach/Blackbeard. While the writers of the show manage to weave the real-life pirates into Black Sails‘ fictional story with ease, some changes are made to how their stories ended in history. Two of these characters are “Calico Jack” Rackham and Anne Bonny, whose Black Sails ending is significantly more fortunate than what befell the Caribbean pirates in real life.
In Black Sails season 4, the central conflict surrounds the pirates of Nassau facing down English opposition, led by Woodes Rogers. In the season finale, Woodes Rogers ambushes the pirate ship of Flint and Silver. However, before they can be defeated, Jack Rackham’s ship arrives and the three pirate captains defeat Rogers once and for all.
After this final battle, Jack returns to Nassau. Nassau is appointed a new governor which sees it flourish into a well-respected port, though piracy is disapproved of. Regardless of this, Jack reunites with Anne Bonny and the two begin covertly sailing the Caribbean as pirates once more. This marks a notably happy ending for the two characters who are long shown to love each other in Black Sails, as they retain their relationship, a pirate ship, and the freedom of the ocean.
The ending of Jack Rackham and Anne Bonny in Black Sails is much happier than what happened to them in real life. In real history, Jack was eventually captured and imprisoned for his crimes, eventually being hung for his years of piracy. Similarly, Anne Bonny was captured and sentenced to death, though her execution was delayed due to her pregnancy. After this point, history does not make clear what happened to Anne Bonny, though her ending was suitably grim as was Jack’s.
This raises the question of why Black Sails decided to give Jack Rackham and Anne Bonny a much happier ending. This has been addressed by one of Black Sails‘ creators, Robert Levine. In an interview with TV Insider, Levine was asked why Jack – and by extension Anne Bonny – survived in spite of his more dire real-world ending:
These comments from Levine make it slightly clearer as to why Jack and Anne were left alive. The source material for which Black Sails is a prequel is not entirely historically accurate, meaning the show itself simply carried on this trait. In leaving Jack Rackham and Anne Bonny’s fates open-ended by Black Sails‘ conclusion, audiences can make up their own minds about what happened to two of the show’s more iconic characters.