‘Black Sails’ Actor Zach McGowan On His Exit: ‘It Was Extremely Intense’


Black Sails killed off a fan favorite this week with the hanging death of Charles Vane, played by Zach McGowan. As fans are still spinning from the loss of a character who was both reviled and beloved, McGowan talks about what it was like to film that final episode and what it felt like to say goodbye to his Black Sails family.

Black Sails Star Zach McGowan On The Demise Of Charles Vane

The real Charles Vane was hanged in 1721, so Zach says he knew his Black Sails character had a limited life span and that Vane would end up in the hangman’s noose, but he says he expected to be killed off much earlier. As time passed, it seemed Black Sails would keep McGowan on indefinitely, but Zach recalls the day in December 2014 that line of thinking changed for him.

The Black Sails actor was called into the writing room, where Black Sails creators Jon E. Steinberg and Robert Levine were on hand with the writing team. McGowan was handed pages detailing Charles Vane’s demise and asked what he thought of the way in which his character would come to his death.

“They weren’t like, ‘We’re sure this is happening’, they were like, ‘We’re thinking this might be a good artistic move for the show’ – and I agreed,” says the Black Sails actor. “There’s only so many times you can put someone in those situations before it’s just absurd.”

McGowan says that there was a good deal of discussion among Black Sails‘ creators, writers, and himself, regarding the details of how Charles Vane would meet death. Zach says that there was never any doubt Vane would meet his death with courage and pride, but the actor adds that his Black Sails character would never express remorse over the things he has done.

Zach McGowan Describes His Black Sails Departure As A Bittersweet Moment

On the one hand, Zach says it really hit him, as they were shooting his final episode of Black Sails, that these were Charles Vane’s last moments. He would no longer appear on the series. It wasn’t a devastating realization for McGowan, but it did affect him more than he had expected.

“I got to do everything with that character that I ever hoped and dreamed for… and so much more,” says the Black Sails actor. “So it was bittersweet, but it was great, and to be honest, I couldn’t imagine a better way of going out as Charles Vane than the way we we did it.”

McGowan also says filming the hanging sequence was a unique experience from an actor’s standpoint. He says the extras on the set weren’t given scripts, so Vane’s fate was going to be as much as a surprise to them as it would be to home audiences. In that way, the Black Sails actor says it was possible to gauge how the audience was going to react.

“So that was extremely intense – and when you do these scenes where you’re up on a platform, you end up with the coverage of all the different people watching…”

Of that final speech for Zach’s character, it’s agreed by cast, crew, and Black Sails fans that Vane’s very last line was his greatest. What came before may have been noteworthy, but not nearly as memorable as the impatient way in which Charles meets death.

“Let’s get on with it, motherf—er!”

With that demand, Charles Vane and Zach McGowan left Black Sails forever.

For his final Black Sails performance, McGowan says he watched a few public hangings on the internet. What struck him most about the executions was the way the onlookers reacted. While some reacted with emotional intensity, Zach says most people accepted it. They had made peace that it was going to happen.

Black Sails just aired its season 4 finale on Saturday, March 26 on Starz.

[Image by Frazer Harrison/Getty Images]

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