Starz renews “Black Sails” before first season begins

At the Television Critics Association (TCA) 2013 Summer Press Tour on Friday, during the Starz Executive Session, Starz CEO Chris Albrecht announced that the network is renewing the new pirate drama Black Sails for a second season — with the first season yet to premiere this coming January.

“I’m very pleased to announce a renewal, a second season pickup for Black Sails. Yes, Starz is doing it again,” said Albrecht, referring to Starz’ history of renewing series before they have aired (Magic City was given a second season before its series debut, and the former series Spartacus was upped for second and third seasons ahead of the series and Season 2 premieres, respectively).

Albrecht said the decision to give Black Sails a second season right away was based on a combination of factors — including the recent positive reaction to the show at Comic-Con.

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“We have been viewing a terrific first season,” said Albrecht, “and just had a really exciting fan screening at Comic-Con of the first episode. We thought that Michael Bay and Jon Steinberg and their teams deserved the opportunity all the time. These shows are massive undertakings, and us making this decision now gives them the opportunity to prepare in the same way for the second season as they did for the first and gives us the opportunity to keep the show on 12 month cycles.”

When asked by a reporter whether the decision to renew Black Sails was primarily based on footage they were seeing, or by Comic-Con reaction, or a combination, Albrecht said, “”We love this show, so it was definitely the strength of what we saw, our realization that time is, you know, a real resource when it comes to making these shows. And, you know the Comic-Con reaction certainly reinforced what we’ve been feeling ourselves, and we just made the decision. We already had the writer’s room started several weeks ago.”