Toby Stephens cast as lead in Starz and Michael Bay’s ‘Black Sails’

British actor Toby Stephens has been cast in the lead role in Black Sails, a series that will be executive produced by Michael Bay and air on Starz.

Deadline reported that Stephens, who appeared in the James Bond film Die Another Day, will play Captain Flint in the pirate drama.

The eight-episode series is a prequel to Robert Louis Stevenson’s Treasure Island. Created by Jon Steinberg and Robert Levine, the series centers on Flint and his men and tells the story of how he met a young Long John Silver, who joins his crew. Starz picked up the series in May.

Black Sails will be executive produced by Bay with his Platinum Dunes shingle, noted The Hollywood Reporter. Production will start in Cape Town, South Africa later in the year and Starz hopes to air it in 2014.

In addition to Die Another Day, Stephens has starred in Space Cowboys, the 2006 Jane Eyre mini-series and the upcoming film All Things To All Men. In Britain, he is known for the BBC’s Vexed, a dramedy that started in 2010.