The impressively strong worldwide release of Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides proves that pirates are still big business, and has clearly paved the way for a number of piratey projects in the States; one of which is a historical TV show that has just been picked up by Fox.
Ridley Scott (Robin Hood) and Tony Scott’s (Unstoppable) Scott Free Productions will produce Pyrates for Fox; which will be a 10-13 episode miniseries, based around the largest heist in pirate history (the capture of the Spanish silver fleet in 1628; the event which supposedly launched the golden age of piracy), and will be a gritty portrayal of the men and women involved in its operation.
Pyrates was created by Law and Order’s Barry Schindel, has Stephen Hopkins (24) attached to direct the first episode, and although there’s no start date as yet (locations are currently being scouted in the Caribbean and Australia), it’s predicted to air in summer 2012, but won’t be the only pirate-based series that’s soon to enter production for Fox.
FX (the network that airs Sons of Anarchy, Rescue Me, Justified, previously aired The Shield, and is owned by Fox) is also in the process of letting its own pirate show set sail, and has hired producers Graham King (The Departed) and Gale Anne Hurd (The Walking Dead) to produce Port Royal; a Deadwood style show created by Hurd, about the rise of Jamaica in the late 17th century, and the attraction the richest new city in the world held for nefarious pirates.
Matt Wheeldon.
Source: Deadline.
