Our Flag Means Death's Vico Ortiz Knows Why Fans Love Jim So Much

When "Our Flag Means Death" debuted on Max last March, it was as a hidden gem, championed by some early fans and a few critics who were able to drop hints about the delightful direction the pirate comedy was heading in. By the time season 1 ended a few weeks later, the show's fanbase was growing exponentially by the day, and in the 438 days and counting since (not that I'm keeping track), the "Our Flag Means Death" fandom has exploded. As the off-season wears on, fans have kept busy with cosplay, fanart, fanfiction, and the type of granular analysis that's borne of blissful obsession.

There are plenty of reasons "Our Flag Means Death" has become a hit, from its sweet, self-deprecating humor to its slate of hilarious guest stars to its swashbuckling historical piracy premise. Yet the show has connected with a passionate fan base, above all else, thanks to its abundance of queer representation. The series is a narrative Trojan horse — a queer rom-com lightly disguised as an adventure comedy — and it allows queerness to exist as a default in a way that few other on-screen worlds do. Characters like wounded, sensitive Blackbeard (Taika Waititi), unhappily married Stede (Rhys Darby), and playfully promiscuous Lucius (Nathan Foad) have queer experiences that are easy to relate to, but no queer character feels as quietly groundbreaking as Jim (Vico Ortiz).

Non-binary fighter Jim joins the crew of the Revenge in disguise, equipped with a fake beard and nose and a new name. When the crew finds out, Jim ditches the beard but decides to stick with the name, and with that simple non-event, the character became a gender-non-conforming standout. Vico Ortiz spoke at a panel about "Our Flag Means Death" at Outfest's Outfront event last week and explained exactly why Jim's journey resonates with so many fans. "Oftentimes, people are so concerned about looking a certain way because of what society expects you to be or behave, and then Jim is just Jim," Ortiz explained in the virtual panel attended by /Film. "When the reveal happens, no one changes the way they treat Jim because it's always been Jim and it's like, 'Right we can do that.'"

Ortiz says Jim's uneventful coming out connects with audiences because it's "so very rad and so very cool" for the series to let the character's new name and pronouns be accepted without any fuss (aside from, back when he thought Jim was a woman, Frenchie's hilarious panic about women having crystals in their bodies). "It's a possibility to just be who you are and not have to give out this like PowerPoint presentation and explanation," Ortiz adds. "I think oftentimes, there's this expectation of having to explain who you are and in detail for other people to understand you and respect you," they continue. "You don't have to know all this information in order to just address someone the way that they want to be addressed."

It's a lesson that many viewers can learn from, and one that "Our Flag Means Death" presents with as much gentleness as each of the topics it broaches — but with an impressive matter-of-factness, too. "I think that's something that's really relatable and so endearing about Jim," Vico Ortiz concludes. Plus, it doesn't hurt that they can wield a weapon and look extremely cool doing so. "Who doesn't love someone who's just like really rad with knives?" Ortiz jokes, citing this as another reason fans love Jim. I can't argue with that.

Elsewhere in the panel, Ortiz also eloquently explained why so many queer women and femme-presenting fans connected to the story of Stede and Ed, two ostensibly cisgender queer men who have nonetheless become extremely popular cosplay subjects for people of all genders. Ortiz referenced the concept of yin and yang to describe the masculine and feminine energies that both characters play with, saying, "This is a very binary explanation, but it's very much that duality of, there's a little bit of fluidity and a little bit of each other [in] that mirror." The show's writers seem to know this, too, as one of the first things menacing Ed and dandy Stede do when they meet is swap outfits to see what it would be like to live as each other for a day.

"There's an interior of softness with the exterior of toughness" and vice versa, Vico Ortiz points out, noting that Stede and Ed — and viewers at home — are able to recognize those shared qualities as "the same [...] just expressed differently." The stories of Ed and Stede, along with other queer characters like Jim, Lucius, Black Pete (Matthew Maher), Olu (Samson Kayo), and Izzy (Con O'Neill, who talked about Izzy's love for Ed on the panel), make "Our Flag Means Death" a tapestry of queer joy, resilience, and diversity. 

"You have this duality of energies and then you see a little bit of yourself there," Ortiz says of Stede and Ed's relationship with one another and the way they act as mirrors to each other. The beauty of "Our Flag Means Death" is that for queer viewers, we don't have to settle for seeing just a little bit of ourselves in the show: we see a whole lot, and we love what we see.

"Our Flag Means Death" season 1 is now streaming on Max. Season 2 does not yet have a release date.