Black Sails: 10 Facts Everyone Should Know About Mr. Scott

Black Sails was a popular fictional period TV show that ran for 4 seasons from 2014 to 2017, exploring the backstories of the iconic characters of Robert Louis Stevenson’s Treasure Island – which Black Sails acts as a prequel to – as well as exploring the reality of the Golden Age of Piracy and some of the real pirate legends who inspired Stevenson.

Mr. Scott appeared in 23 episodes over the first three seasons, as an educated slave who joins the pirate game after being liberated by Captain Flint’s crew, whereupon he joins Captain Benjamin Hornigold’s crew as Quartermaster. His life is a turbulent one, and his story gives us some insight into the relationship between piracy and slavery at the turn of the 16th Century. Here are 10 things you need to know about the character.

10 Cast

Mr. Scott is played by Hakeem Kae-Kazim. Hakeem was born in Nigeria, then raised in the United Kingdom before moving to South Africa at the age of 25. His first screen appearance was in 1987 and he’s been working steadily since. He is best known for playing Georges Rutaganda in Hotel Rwanda and Colonel Iké Dubaku in 24 and spin-off movie 24: Redemption. He has also lent his voice to console games, including playing Jorge in Halo: Reach.

9 Origin

Mr. Scott grew up in Africa, but like so many during that time, he was kidnapped and sold into slavery as a teenager. He has tribal scars scored down each of his cheeks to identify him as a member of his former tribe, and still speaks his native language, which comes in handy later in the show. He became the ‘houseboy’ for Richard Guthrie and proved himself enough to earn a formal education.

8 Pirate of the Caribbean

Black Sails wasn’t Hakeem Kai-Kazim’s first stint as a pirate on screen. He also appeared in 2007’s Pirates of the Caribbean: At World’s End as Captain Jocard, a member of the powerful council of Pirate Lords who each held one of “The 9 Pieces of Eight” and were together responsible for binding the goddess Calypso in human form. Hakeem also provided his voice for the console game as Gentlemen Jocard.

7 Eleanor Guthrie

During his time as Richard Guthrie’s houseboy, Mr. Scott proved himself loyal and responsible enough to be given an education and was a trusted member of the household. He developed a close relationship with Eleanor Guthrie on the way, becoming one of her closest advisors.

This relationship is later tested as Eleanor starts to work with Captain Flint, the catalyst for Mr. Scott eventually joining the world of piracy. He was always a good advisor to Eleanor, with a down-to-Earth rational approach to avoiding and solving problems.

6 Original Character

The show’s wide variety of unique characters come from three sources: Robert Louis Stevenson’s Treasure Island, real pirate history, and the imagination of the show’s writers. Mr. Scott was one of the latter, an entirely original character created solely for the show. The character stands up to the real historical figures featured, as his story delves deep into the real history of the role former African slaves played in the short-lived piracy boom.

5 Family

In season 3 we find out that Mr. Scott has a wife known as ‘The Maroon Queen’ and daughter, Madi, from his time in Nassau. When Spain threatened to invade the town became full of English privateers, which is when Mr. Scott secretly moved his family to an escaped slave colony on Maroon Island. He stayed on the mainland to work and smuggle supplies to this community, earning the nickname/title “The Maroon King”.

4 Real Slave Pirates

While Mr. Scott wasn’t among the real pirates featured in the show, his story jives with the truth of history. While the criminal looters are often over-romanticized by fiction, pirates do get points for progressive thinking. In a time of extreme sexism and racism, with the slave trade in full swing, pirates had crews manned by women and former African slaves, many who they liberated themselves.

The most famous freed-slave turned pirate was the incredibly successful Black Caeser, who became lieutenant to Edward “Blackbeard” Teach. Though pirates weren’t completely innocent of exploiting the slave trade they certainly came in handy.

3 Maroon Island

When Mr. Scott sent his family to Maroon Island, it was a small struggling community, but by the time he returned his wife was ruling a community of thousands, ready to take on the world that put them in chains. Mr. Scott’s role as the “away King” was to feed the island supplies they couldn’t produce, but the community soon grew formidable enough to ransack every ship that came across the island, capturing and enslaving the crew.

2 More Hakeem

As well as an impressive back catalog, Hakeem Kai-Kazim currently has 2 films due to be released, and a further 8 in various stages of production. Among these is Godzilla vs. Kong, due to be released in November, in which he plays Admiral Wilcox. He’s also taking on the role of Robert Mugabe in a biopic due to be released in June, simply titled Mugabe.

1 The Maroon Queen

The enigmatic Maroon Queen, played by Moshidi Motshegwa, appears in nine episodes over the final two seasons. The character’s real name is never mentioned. After parting with her husband, she rules the island with ruthless aggression as she takes revenge on the Western World. When Captain Flint and the crew are captured on the island, it takes Mr. Scott’s intervention to not have them taken as prisoners or slaves, as he wants to offer Captain Flint a partnership.