Interview: Ruibo Qian of ‘Our Flag Means Death’ on Doing Zheng Yi Sao Justice

Qian Talks Her “Don Draper of the Sea” Interpretation of her Character, Romance with Oluwande, and the ‘Amazing’ Fans

The beloved Max pirate comedy Our Flag Means Death has never been short on surprises. Viewers who started watching expecting the standard trope-filled pirate adventure often portrayed on screen quickly learned there much more to the world David Jenkins created. The first of many pleasant surprises was the romance between seemingly the odd couple of Rhys Darby’s gentleman-turned-pirate Capt. Stede Bonnet and the much-feared Blackbeard a.k.a. Ed Teach (Taika Waititi).

For the second season, the already large, talented ensemble expanded it with guest stars including Minnie Driver, Bronson Pinchot, and Rachel House. Even with such a talented crew, one performance has harnessed significant buzz, that of Ruibo Qian. The buzz is a bit surprising as her character starts the season as a soup seller named Susan. But, by the time the first episode ends fans and the crew of the Revenge realize there is more to her than first revealed.

It turns out the harmless, soup-wielding Susan is actually a sword swinging pirate Zheng Yi Sao, a character based on a real life person nicknamed the Pirate Queen. This nickname was rightfully-earned after Zheng Yi Sao captained her all-female crew to conquer the seas of China adding a multitude of ships to her fleet by being fearless, smart, and an incredible negotiator. 

Zheng Yi Sao’s story would typically be whitewashed or ignored entirely in the past, but not on Our Flag Means Death, a series that provides tremendously diverse representation across the cast. For Qian, the role carried great weight for the actress who has already compiled quite a resume of during her 10-year career across stage, film, and television with roles in Mozart in the Jungle, Manchester by the Sea, Black Mirror and more.

“It was so vital, so culturally and ancestrally important for me in particular,” said Qian. “Going into it I had a lot of reservations about how she would be portrayed and how I would be able to do her justice for a character that’s this historically important and is not really in the cultural lexicon in that way. Qian continued, “What was great about it is that the realization came very quickly that doing her justice would mean channeling her energy in a different way through humor, through the artistic license of how to portray this character.”

It does not take long to see the swagger and confidence the scene stealing Zheng Yi Sao carries, something that Qian brought to her through unexpected ways. “The realization came very quickly that doing her justice would mean to be channeling her energy in a different way – through humor, through the artistic license of how to portray this character,” explained Qian.

“It’s funny because when I auditioned for the show initially, I had just finished a play that was an adaptation of Dial M for Murder. So I was in this like 1950s heightened like mid-Atlantic thing.” The stage character continued into Zheng Yi Sao giving her an interpretation that showrunner David Jenkins said reminded him of “Don Draper of the Sea.” An observation was so on point that the actress was very pleased to hear it. She felt like channeling her energy through that lens would motivate the audience to go and actually look up the historical background of the real Chinese pirate.

While Qian’s character could conquer the seas, she is not as skilled in the world of romance as we see while Zheng Yi Sao attempts to flirt with her newly acquired crewmate, Oluwande Boodhari played by Samson Kayo. “I think that she is such a workaholic that she has had very little time to sort of develop an emotional vocabulary. And for my own brain, obviously historically she was married previously,” elaborated Qian.  I think that the difference with Olu is that he’s so kind and so generous and so soft. And that’s very different than what she’s used to. That’s something she really needs. She needs to find some vulnerability and some avenue to be vulnerable.”

As most Our Flag Means Death fans know, the fandom is as passionate as they come. Qian was “debriefed” by members of the crew about just how enthusiastic they can be, but even so, the actress was moved by the fan reactions. “It’s beautiful, it’s humbling, it’s amazing,” exclaimed Qian. “And particularly hearing from some of the Asian American community and how they’re affected by seeing, you know, this character and this level of diversity. It’s amazing. And the fan art is incredible.”

During the interview Qian’ choice of words to describe Zheng Yi Sao were “badass queen,” To see why watch season two of Our Flag Means Death, where she leaves it all on screen.

Watch my interview with the spectacular Ruibo Qian in full below and watch the first two seasons of Our Flag Means Death in their entirety exclusively on Max.