Editor's note: The below interview contains major spoilers for Episodes 9 and 10 of Our Flag Means Death.

The HBO Max series Our Flag Means Death, which hails from creator David Jenkins and executive producer Taika Waititi, is (very, very) loosely based on true 18th-century adventures revolves around the hilarious misadventures of self-proclaimed "gentleman pirate" Stede Bonnet (Rhys Darby) and his motley crew of the ship Revenge, who don't necessarily have the greatest faith in their captain as he tries to follow his true dream of becoming a real swashbuckler. As the Revenge's crew begins to become more and more mutinous, their paths fatefully cross with that of the notorious Blackbeard, otherwise known as Edward Teach (Waititi) — and from there, the two men forge an unexpected friendship, each learning lessons from the other along the way. The series is executive produced by Waititi, who directs the pilot episodes, as well as Jenkins, Garrett Basch, and Dan Halsted. In addition to Darby and Waititi, Our Flag Means Death's ensemble cast includes Nathan Foad, Samson Kayo, Vico Ortiz, Ewen Bremner, Joel Fry, Matt Maher, Kristian Nairn, Con O’Neill, Guz Khan, David Fane, Rory Kinnear, Samba Schutte, Nat Faxon, Fred Armisen, and Leslie Jones.

Ahead of the season's final two episodes airing on March 24, Collider had the chance to speak with Darby by phone about some of the biggest moments that happen for Stede over the course of "Act of Grace" and "Wherever You Go, There You Are." Over the course of the interview, which you can read below, Darby discussed how the emotional moment of Stede's crew coming to his defense mirrored the growing friendships between the cast in real life, the kiss between Stede and Ed and what the moment signifies for his character, and why it was important for Stede and his wife Mary (Claudia O'Doherty) to come full circle in Episode 10. He also discusses where Stede's mindset is as of the season finale, how the main storyline actually somewhat resembles Grease 2, and more.

Collider: Last week's episode ends in a bit of a precarious position for Stede and Blackbeard, especially, but right at the end after they've gotten apprehended, Blackbeard nudges Stede's foot with his own. Was that something in the script, or was that something that was improvised in filming?

RHYS DARBY: That was improvised, that one, yeah. That was just Taika [Waititi] deciding he should do that. Because we were staring at each other. Yeah, it was just a little sweet moment.

I would say it sets the stage in a lot of ways for the last two episodes, which are... there are sweet moments, definitely, but then there are also some very heartbreaking moments that happen in very quick succession. One of the early lovely scenes in Episode 9 is the crew of the Revenge all standing up to declare Stede a real pirate so that he can claim the Act of Grace. What do you enjoy most about getting to play the scenes that are more rooted in sincerity, especially with the rest of the cast like that?

DARBY: I absolutely love the scenes that have that sincerity. Because comedy is so easy for me, and we do the comedy and I enjoy it. I can't wait to do the next comedic piece and I can't wait to improvise to put people off and make them laugh and make them work extra hard not to laugh because they don't know what's going to happen, and we create this funniest thing that we can do. But then as time goes on, after Episode 2, 3, 4, 5, then you're thinking, "Oh my God, I actually really love these people. And I love these moments." And I was really the captain of this crew and being number one on the call sheet, I felt like I had to be the captain of this cast.

So as we progressed, and we got to know each other — because none of us knew each other at all, apart from Taika and I, obviously — but the rest of them... I really adore all of them. I know their work, and I know they've come from afar to be part of this amazing show. So it's very parallel to real life when at the end of the whole thing, people are supporting Stede, and I'm in Stede's shoes, and I'm looking at them, and I'm thinking, "Oh God, these guys would have my back as well." Which we did, because it was a tough shoot. We did really long hours.

What I really love is that there's a parallel between the fiction and the fact, which is that I think we would have each other's backs, and we really became a little gang of misfits, trying to create a show that we had no idea whether it would work out because it felt so experimental. Given the depths of what we were trying to achieve, and these giant sets and all these clothing and all the technical stuff that we would look at and go, "Is this is going to look real?" And of course, it came out looking absolutely amazing. So I just felt really good about that.

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Image via HBO Max

RELATED: 'Our Flag Means Death' Creator David Jenkins Breaks Down the Finale, Stede & Blackbeard's Biggest Moments, and More

One of the scenes that I again felt was incredibly lovely in Episode 9 is the one between Stede and Ed sitting on the beach. It's very quiet and intimate, and the kiss happens, which doesn't come out of nowhere given the mood of the scene, but almost takes both characters a little by surprise. What did you want to capture most about that moment in playing it with Taika, and was there anything that you decided to bring to it apart from what David [Jenkins] had on the page?

DARBY: I wanted to make sure that the audience knew that Stede didn't really know what love was and hadn't really expected a kiss or anything like that. He was very naive to it all but was just on this rollercoaster because he enjoyed every minute of it, and he didn't know where it was going to end. I think he expected, in some ways, for Blackbeard or Ed to take the lead — which he has, in most of the things we've done on board. He's the experienced pirate, and Stede tried to give his own 10 cents by helping out with gentlemanly things and the use of cutlery and wearing fine fabrics and things like that. But there was certainly a lack of confidence in the area of... I think that's probably the same for both of them, with love.

I really could come down to either of them probably taking that next step and just touching each other in that way. But it just so happened to be Ed, because Ed felt invigorated. He felt like he had finally let go of the persona of Blackbeard, the evil side of him. Once the beard came off and everything, he's like some dashing guy from the Mills & Boon — you probably don't know what those books are.

I do, the romance novels.

DARBY: The romance novels. Yeah. So he is sitting there, but he's certainly more at ease, you can see that. Because Stede isn't. Stede's realizing that he has possibly screwed everything up and that they're going to die, and I think he's got a lot more going on in his head, and you can see that when they do the kiss. Then Ed walks away, [and] there's just this really puzzled look on Stede's face where he's taking that in, but he's taking so many other things in at the same time, which are: Is this the end? What do I do here? Have I done the right thing? Yeah. But I think I hopefully played that right.

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Image via HBO Max

I wanted to ask you about the finale, because it's a great opportunity, like you said, to really get into Stede's head and see the moment when he realizes that what he feels for Ed is love — but doing it with Mary there. How was it getting to work with Claudia again in a way that bookmarks the season? They're reuniting with so much time having passed since he took off, but then that final conversation that they have in the bedroom, she's just happy for him.

DARBY: That was one of my favorite scenes. Absolutely. Because it did tie up a lot of issues and a lot of scenes and thoughts and worries. For [Stede], as I say, he's still got... He's so naive with his feelings and doesn't quite get whether this is love or not, and then when she describes what love is, and we have that lovely moment where we get those little flashbacks, and he's seeing that these are the experiences that he's having — it dawns on him that he does love [Ed]. It was really sweet to be able to say that to her. The way it was dialogued, it was really lovely. I can't remember what the words are, but there could have been a split second when she just freaked out, or slapped him again, or said, "You left me for a man" or whatever — which, of course, he didn't. He left for huge reasons [that had] nothing to do with that.

But there was a moment where... finally, after everything bad he had done to her, to the marriage, she was okay with it, and there was just this soft moment where she could see that this is really what he got out of leaving. He was searching for something, and they weren't supposed to be together, which she knew anyway. But now it made sense that what she'd done on the side with this painting instructor and what he'd done by leading in the first place was meant to happen, it was meant to be. I guess it could have been a different story if she had never met someone else or if she would've been very lonely, and so that was lovely that that worked out on a gesture. It was nice to be tied at the end of the show, as you say, to do a full come-round like that. Of course, then he sorted out a way of leaving her with all the wealth and him being completely killed off by doing a clever fuckery. It was really good because she worked with him, and he got away with it, and he doesn't have to return. He still might at some point, but that would be weird considering everyone thinks he's got away with his death.

What do you think Stede's biggest driving force is as of that last finale shot? Because we see him in the boat, he's going to get the crew. He obviously doesn't really know anything about what's happened since he left, with Ed almost tragically reverting to his Blackbeard persona. Is Stede's mission just to bring the band back together, so to speak?

DARBY: Absolutely. It's about him getting back to his family. He mentions it at the beginning of the series where he says "This is my family now," and he feels something when he's in that family. Because his biggest issue right from the beginning is he's just... he's never felt anything, and that's why he left to go and find something, to feel whatever it is. He ends up feeling so much more than he could ever imagine — both physically through being wounded and hung and shot, and having people ridicule him constantly, which wouldn't have happened to him much in his former life apart from his dad. He's getting these feels, and he mainly felt wanted by the end, [but] it took a while. As we've seen in Episode 9 when he's about to be shot and the crew all stick up for him, it proves that they do like him, they do love him.

So that's what he's going back to. He's going back to that, and it's complicated because he's let Ed go, because he thinks it's better for him. He thinks that he shouldn't necessarily have changed his ways to become this softer person. It reminds me of Grease 2 or something. You want the bad boy, you get the bad boy. And then when you've got the bad boy, you turn him into a nice boy, and then you don't want the nice boy anymore.

All episodes of Our Flag Means Death are currently available to stream on HBO Max.