Starz announced today that their upcoming pirate series Black Sails will make its debut at San Diego Comic-Con 2013 with an exclusive screening of the pilot episode on Thursday, July 18. "Special guests" from the series will be present at the screening, so stay tuned for more information soon. In the meantime, read on for details about this eight-episode series, debuting on Starz in January 2014.

The pirate adventure Black Sails centers on the tales of Captain Flint (Toby Stephens) and his men and takes place twenty years prior to Robert Louis Stevenson's classic "Treasure Island." Flint, the most brilliant and most feared pirate captain of his day, takes on a fast-talking young addition to his crew who goes by the name John Silver (Luke Arnold). Threatened with extinction on all sides, they fight for the survival of New Providence Island, the most notorious criminal haven of its day - a debauched paradise teeming with pirates, prostitutes, thieves and fortune seekers, a place defined by both its enlightened ideals and its stunning brutality.

The series also stars Zach McGowan (Shameless) as rival Captain Charles Vane; Toby Schmitz as Rackham, Vane's right hand; Hannah New as Eleanor Guthrie, a determined young woman who runs the smuggling operation on New Providence; Jessica Parker Kennedy as Max, a tortured young prostitute who sees the dark side of New Providence; Clara Paget as the beautiful but cold-blooded Anne Bonny and Tom Hopper (Merlin) as Billy Bones, boatswain of Flint's ship.

Black Sails is executive produced by Michael Bay (Transformers, Armageddon, Pearl Harbor) and his Platinum Dunes partners Bradley Fuller and Andrew Form, producers on The Texas Chainsaw Massacre (2003) and A Nightmare on Elm Street (2009). The series was created by showrunner and executive producer Jonathan E. Steinberg (creator Jericho, Human Target) and co-executive producer Robert Levine (Touch).

Black Sails will debut with an eight-episode season in January 2014, exclusively on Starz.

Black Sails Online