‘Black Sails’ star not worried about mom’s review

NEW YORK — Toby Stephens may be concerned about reviews of his portrayal of Captain Flint in the Starz’s series “Black Sails.” There is, however, one viewer he’s not worried about — his mother, actress Maggie Smith.

“I’m used to it,” Stephens said about his mother’s judgments in a recent interview to promote the series which premieres Saturday at 9 p.m. Eastern. The 44-year-old actor added: “I’m not reliant anymore on whether she enjoys something.”

Stephens said that while his Oscar-winning mother, who is currently in “Downton Abbey,” would prefer to like the shows he’s in, when she doesn’t, “It’s not going to ruin her day.”

For Stephens, what’s “nerve-wracking” is when Smith comes to see him in a play because he knows she’ll pop backstage after the show “and it’s palpable whether she’s liked it or not.”

“Black Sails” is a prequel to Robert Louis Stevenson’s “Treasure Island” novel, in which Captain Flint is described as a notorious, terrifying pirate by the drunken seaman Billy Bones.

It was Flint whose loot is the treasure buried on Treasure Island, and Stephens says that gives the creative team a lot of leeway in creating their Captain Flint. “They wanted to create a complex character who ends up as this person but isn’t necessarily that at the beginning of this show.”