The creators of Game of Thrones have triggered an online uproar with the announcement of their next HBO series, Confederate, set in an alternate timeline where the South successfully seceded from the United States and slavery is a legal, modern-day institution.
In a statement, HBO said that the show would portray events leading to a Third Civil War and follow "a broad swath of characters on both sides of the Mason-Dixon Demilitarised Zone - freedom fighters, slave hunters, politicians, abolitionists, journalists, the executives of a slaveholding conglomerate and the families of people in their thrall".
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The Thrones team, David Benioff and DB Weiss, will be showrunners on the series and collaborate with Nichelle Tramble Spellman (The Good Wife, Justified) and Malcolm Spellman (Empire), who will be executive producers and writers.
"We have discussed Confederate for years, originally as a concept for a feature film," Benioff and Weiss said in a statement.
"But our experience on Thrones has convinced us that no one provides a bigger, better storytelling canvas than HBO," they said.
"There won't be dragons or White Walkers in this series, but we are creating a world, and we couldn't imagine better partners in world-building than Nichelle and Malcolm, who have impressed us for a long time with their wit, their imagination and their Scrabble-playing skills."
The reaction on social media was less than friendly, with some questioning the need for a show that would depict institutionalised slavery and whether it would glorify the Confederate cause.
"I don't care if it is done tastefully... The very premise is disgusting," one commenter reacted to the news.
"This is a deeply bad idea. Don't do this, guys. Please," another added bluntly.
Game of Thrones has come under its share of criticism for its depiction and graphic scenes of rape and slavery, even while it is one of the most popular shows on television.
"Confederate...takes place in an alternative timeline...in which slavery is legal" - Yeah, how about...no. https://t.co/CKM2Ar16Rc
— Kno (@Kno) July 19, 2017
Can we please not have a TV show called Confederate where the premise is "what if the south had won?" ?!?!?!?!
— Laurie Collyer (@lauriecollyer) July 19, 2017
Like even if Confederate is critical of current day racism, do we need another series about the suffering of POC, written by white men?
— peat ape (@kamilumin) July 19, 2017
The fact the Game of Thrones showrunners think #Confederate is a great idea sheds a light on why Game of Thrones is the way it is.
— Amanda (@FictionRedhead) July 20, 2017
remind me to stay off the internet the day when Ed Sheeran cameos as a slave trader in CONFEDERATE.
— david ehrlich (@davidehrlich) July 19, 2017
- New York Times