Treasure Island First Look: Hayley Atwell and David Oyelowo Set Sail in MGM+ and Paramount+ Pirate Series

Shiver me timbers — one of adventure fiction’s most enduring pirate tales is setting a course for streaming, and we finally have our first glimpse of the sails. Treasure Island has revealed a batch of first-look images for the six-part series heading to MGM+ in the United States and Paramount+ in the UK and Ireland this autumn. The images give us our first proper look at the starry ensemble — including David Oyelowo and Hayley Atwell — as they board the Hispaniola and set sail for the dreaded Skeleton Island.

The new adaptation, produced by the acclaimed Playground (the studio behind Wolf Hall), brings Robert Louis Stevenson’s 1883 novel to life for a fresh generation. It’s a bold, high-stakes coming-of-age story that tracks teenager Jim Hawkins from sheltered boy to emboldened young pirate, all while a legendary treasure map turns his whole world into a fight for survival.

When Does Treasure Island Premiere?

Mark your calendars: Treasure Island premieres on MGM+ in the U.S. on October 11, 2026, with the UK and Ireland launch following the next day on Paramount+. New episodes will then drop weekly, rolling through November 15 and 16 respectively. It’s a stuttering, old-school serialized rollout rather than a binge-all-at-once drop — the kind of weekly appointment viewing that suits a story built on cliffhangers and shifting alliances.

The show is a Paramount+ and MGM+ original produced in association with distributor Fifth Season, with Playground attached as producer. That means outside the two streaming territories it will travel wide through Fifth Season’s global distribution arm. For a literary adaptation of this pedigree, the international rollout is a major part of the appeal — plenty of viewers around the world will be able to catch it as it makes landfall market by market.

Meet the Cast of Treasure Island

The casting is where this version of Treasure Island really shines. David Oyelowo steps into the iconic boots of Long John Silver, the charming, terrifying pirate who anchors the whole story. Oyelowo, fresh off his turn in the hit sci-fi series Silo, is a superb fit for a role that demands equal parts menace and charisma.

Hayley Atwell takes on the role of Bess Hawkins — a significant expansion from the source material, where Mrs. Hawkins is a more peripheral figure. Here she’s elevated to a central, fiercely determined co-lead. Atwell is best known to streaming audiences as Peggy Carter in Agent Carter and for her turn in the Mission: Impossible franchise, so her presence gives the series genuine marquee weight.

Rising star Tom Sweet plays Jim Hawkins, the teenager whose discovery of Captain Flint’s treasure map sets everything in motion. Around them, Jack Huston — of Boardwalk Empire fame — plays the debonair, duplicitous British agent Aaron Graham, while Tomer Capone, recognizable from The Boys, takes on the grizzled sailor Billy Bones. It’s a cast that spans prestige drama and big-ticket streaming hits, which bodes well for the show’s reach.

What’s Different About This Treasure Island?

Every generation gets its own Treasure Island, and this take makes a few smart choices to keep the story feeling contemporary. The most notable is the decision to build up Bess Hawkins into a genuine protagonist alongside her son. The synopsis frames Jim and Bess as being “caught between” Long John Silver and the British agent Aaron Graham — a setup that complicates the straightforward good-vs-evil of the original novel and turns the voyage into a moral tangle.

There’s also a richer sense of place. The series is set “across the Atlantic, in a Caribbean on the brink of revolution, and on the terrifying Skeleton Island.” That reference to a Caribbean on the edge of revolutionary upheaval is a fascinating signal — it suggests the show is weaving real historical texture into its swashbuckling adventure rather than treating the setting as a generic pirate playground.

Who’s Behind the Series?

Behind the camera, the creative team is stacked with British TV heavyweights. The series was created for television by Robert Murphy, known for his work on Vera and Shetland. Directing duties are split across three episodes blocks, handed to Jeremy Lovering (Slow Horses, The One), William McGregor (who directed on His Dark Materials and Lockwood & Co.), and Paul Walker (Shameless, Riviera). Mark Hedges serves as producer, with Playground’s David Stern, Scott Huff, Colin Callender and Daniel Gratton executive producing.

The whole project was commissioned for Paramount+ by Sebastian Cardwell, deputy chief content officer UK, and Paul Testar, commissioning editor for Paramount+ UK & Ireland. On the MGM+ side, global head Michael Wright and original programming executive Alec Strum oversee production. Production services were handled in Spain, with the shoot getting underway earlier this year.

Why This Treasure Island Could Be a Big Deal

Pirate drama hasn’t had a true eponymous flagship since the heyday of other high-seas series, so a prestige six-parter built on one of the most beloved adventure novels ever written is a genuine event — especially arriving amid a broader wave of literary adaptations finding new life on streaming. The combination of a recognizable source text, a cast stacked with proven names, and a producer with Playground’s pedigree gives Treasure Island serious breakout potential.

There’s also a clever hook in the “new generation” framing. The series pitches itself as a coming-of-age adventure, which positions it for both younger viewers discovering the story for the first time and older audiences nostalgic for the tale. That dual appeal is a smart play for a weekly episodic rollout, where word of mouth needs to carry a show across six weeks.

Beyond the High Seas

If the wait until mid-October feels too long, there’s no shortage of other adaptations to tide you over. The story’s DNA runs through plenty of other adventures on the streaming landscape — Tom Sweet, for instance, previously starred in the TV adaptation of Great Expectations, another go at a canonical British coming-of-age novel, so fans of that framework have an easy next step. And while no premiere date has been locked in for additional markets, the Fifth Season distribution deal means Treasure Island is likely to make landfall elsewhere before too long.

Whether you’re a lifelong Stevenson devotee or you just love a good pirate yarn, the first-look images suggest this is shaping up to be one of the most visually striking adventure series of the season. With Hayley Atwell and David Oyelowo leading a cast this strong, October can’t come soon enough.