The real life Stede Bonnet began pirating in 1717 and died in 1718, lasting only 15 months as a pirate. During that time, he was tricked/taken captive by Blackbeard, mutinied, arrested, pardoned, changed his identity, arrested again, escaped capture, arrested again, and eventually executed.
Theo Darby, Rhys Darby's son, played the young version of Stede Bonnet.
The show is based on Stede Bonnet, the so called gentleman pirate of the 18th century. Famed screenwriter William Goldman tried to make a movie about him in the late 1970s, called The Sea Kings. He wanted to have Roger Moore play Bonnet and Sean Connery play Blackbeard. It never came together due to the costs involved for the two stars and for building the pirate ship sets in the age before CGI.
Rhys Darby is 47 years old. The real Stede Bonnet only lived to be 30.
Blackbeard and Bonnet historically did travel together in real life, although no one seems to really know what their relationship was. They sailed together for several months, culminating in Blackbeard stealing Bonnet's ship and crew and abandoning him in North Carolina. It's actually surmised that Bonnet was captured chasing Blackbeard, but was unable to find him. The two men died (Bonnet was hanged and Blackbeard was killed in battle) within a month of each other and never saw each other again.