‘Black Sails’ Season 4, Episode 7 Spoilers: “XXXV" Follows Aftermath of Eleanor’s Death; Hannah New Addresses Character’s Fate

‘Black Sails’ season 4’s episode 7, titled “XXXV," is set to follow events following the shocking death of Eleanor. Actress Hannah New addressed her character’s fate in a recent interview.

The brief synopsis for episode 7 posted on TV Guide reads, “Flint (Toby Stephens) urges caution on an angry Silver (Luke Arnold); Max (Jessica Parker Kennedy) leads Rackham (Toby Schmitz) and Bonny (Clara Paget) up river; Billy (Tom Hopper) locates a survivor; Rogers (Luke Roberts) learns the truth.”

The final season of Starz’ drama-adventure television series that serves as a prequel to Robert Louis Stevenson’s iconic novel ‘Treasure Island’ proved to be an exciting one for Captain Flint and his band of pirates as they struggled to take back power on Nassau. Their mission proved a difficult one as they were challenged by Woodes Rogers’ deal with the Spanish.

The conflict between the pirates and the British Empire finally took away the lives of one of the series’ major characters. Hannah New’s Eleanor Guthrie met her demise when Rogers’ deal went awry.

In the previous episode, the Spanish navy and its sailors stormed Nassau and killed Eleanor at a supposed safe house. Ironically, these men were invited into Nassau by Rogers’ himself to pillage and wreak havoc to their hearts’ content. Rogers, who hoped to save Eleanor from a grim fate, ended up holding her dead body in his arms.

During an interview with Collider, actress Hannah New addressed her character’s death as well as filming her final scene on the show. She expressed her excitement at shooting the series’ last season saying, “What was really exciting was that the scenes we were getting to do were so meaty, with all of the backstory stuff that’s come out, and people who haven’t been in contact with each other for a few seasons are finally getting to speak again and voice things that have happened, over all this time.”

When asked about Eleanor’s fate, New replied, “Quite often, if shows end and characters are still alive, there are still many unanswered questions that leave that character with perhaps not such a complete arc. The amazing thing is that we can evaluate Eleanor as a character, as a whole, because we know her journey and we know her end.”

She continued, “Her death isn’t just a plot device. Her death is significant because it’s the death of all sorts of visions for the island and of the Pirate Republic. She had to let go of that, when she was brought back to the island to bring civilization there from the powers that be at Whitehall, which was what she was always fighting against.”

New added, “Although her motives essentially seemed the same, of wanting the island to be a stable, functioning society where pirates would then become merchants, the main thing that she saw taken away from her mother and from her, as a child, was stability and safety.”

‘Black Sails’ season 4’s episode 7, titled “XXXV," is scheduled to air on March 12, 2017 on Starz. It was directed by Lukas Ettlin. It will be followed by episode 8, titled "XXXVI," scheduled to be released on March 19 and directed by Uta Briesewitz.