The following year, he played the lead in Animal Planet's TV special "", which scored the highest viewership ratings for the channel since 2003. He appeared in HBO's film "The Girl" and the "Strike Back" series. He also worked opposite Denzel Washington and Ryan Reynolds in Universal's "Safe House". In 2013, he starred opposite Oscar winner William Hurt in BBC Films' Royal Television Society's film, "The Challenger", about the space shuttle disaster. He then started work on season 1 of "Black Sails". The show received several Emmy Awards. The second season premiered on January 24, 2015. Michael was considered for Emmy and SAG awards for his work on season one and two as series regular Richard Guthrie.